Sad Machine
by Captain Buzzkill
Summary: Her whole life, Anna has been subject to constant heart problems that will lead to the day death would eventually take her. But when she's given an artificial heart, she's also given a new life. Her whole life, Elsa has been trained to think of her kingdom before herself but when she saves this cardiac patient and falls in love, emotions collide with responsibility. Scifi Elsanna
1. Prologue

**AN at the end.**

***inserts usual disclaimer that Frozen does not belong to me***

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"I'm afraid that she won't be able to live any longer than a month sir." A series of papers shuffled as a chair screeched out from someone's legs. The room was well illuminated with clean energy but the atmosphere couldn't get any darker.

A tired sob resonates through the air. "Where is she right now?"

"In Ward 13. She is being watched twenty-four seven by a team of professional medics. Her blood sugar, brain rate, and immune system are all operative, it's just… her condition. Sir."

Pairs of strong, callused hands from years of work massage brows that have creased from concentration throughout the inventor's lifetime. Agdar did not expect Anna's health to dissipate so quickly, a year was what he had supposed but through continuous check-ups, it seemed that he had been deemed wrong by science itself. She was only ten years old, far too early in any girl's age to be facing this kind of distress and pain. When she was born, Agdar and Idunn both knew that Anna was not a normal baby but they never could have guessed that she would have heart complications. Since then, time has been an enemy to them and today has proved that they have lost. But Agdar would not give up.

He stood up sturdily from his seat and faced the head physician. "I think now is the time to aim towards my objective." After a quick nod, Agdar started towards the door without waiting for the physician's answer.

Foreseeing that behavior, the medical doctor made for the inventor, "But Sir! You know it hasn't been tested yet! Who knows what will happen to her, and nonetheless you! It's too dangerous!"

Agdar paused in his step so briskly that the doctor almost crashed into him. Strong shoulders raised and lowered with a heavy sigh. He slightly turned back and his eyes shown not with the usual solid, headstrong gleam but of desperation.

"Ludwig, she only_ has_ a month. Her birthday is in a month and she's spent most of her life on a hospital bed, connected to various machines and scanned multiple times. The least I can do for her is try, lest she dies knowing that her father didn't even do anything to ensure her life. The statistics from the electrocardiogram show reasonable information and it hasn't faltered since the first day it operated. I think it's ready, and right now there's no direction to go about than forwards."

He continued walking down the hall with Ludwig following silently behind, hesitant to show concern towards the man of the household. Agdar's steps gave the impression that they already knew where they were going; they were only walking down the same hallway towards the lab for three years after all. After a few minutes of turning around corners and going down multiple stairs they were standing in front of a normal door, almost identical to the ones around the manor, except this one had a certain security feature. Voice recognition and breath sample were taken before a series of locks and lasers withdrew from the system. Agdar stepped in before a robotic voice was heard.

"_Good evening Dr. Christian. I was informed-", _before the voice could finish, a massive phaser shot out from behind Agdar and was pointed at the doctor. The poor man doubled back out of surprise and landed on his butt, eyes wide with horror and the gun following his every move.

"_Unidentified guest does not appear on the list Sir. Shall I commence obliteration?" _The humming grew louder as an orange light enhanced from the weapon. Agdar waved it off, "No need to EVE, he's a friend. And cancel the automated vacuum division, I swear, you go to great lengths with this whole security thing." The inventor turned on various switches and nobs before turning back to Ludwig.

"It's alright doctor, I've told EVE to hold off the hostilities. I want you to see this." He flicked one last switch and a sequences of lights turned on, directed toward Agdar's creation. Ludwig stood up reluctantly and walked cautiously into the lab, mouth agape and not even noticing beams of light flashing upon him, scanning. _"Dr. Ludwig Von Drake, born 2002, March 13, age 52. Blood type AB, with a BMI of 21. Criminal record empty. Graduate of King Philip Magnet School and obtained a doctorate in medical science at the Medical University of Corona. Suffers from frequent migraines and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease-" _EVE continued sputtering information as the doctor joined his friend.

"You smoke?" Agdar shifted his eyes to his side to his friend. Ludwig shrugged his shoulders. "It relieves the stress from operations." He then gestured towardswhat Agdar had highlighted. "Is this it now? How..."

"It has been under the normal pressure a human has and the regulation of fluid is at the same rate. It has been going strong since then, with and without supervision."

There in front of them, in a glass cylinder was a clear device strikingly similar to the human heart, only this had metal rings where the arteries and veins would be fastened to and comparable tricuspid and bicuspid valves. Fairly parallel to the actual thing only there were translucent wires around the left and right arteries, superior vena cava, and left and right veins. On the apex of the heart was a tiny rectangular box that conformed to the shape of the bottom of the artificial heart. It was pumping fluid into the atriums and an action potential can be seen flying through the crystalline wires and over the ventricles, pumping the fluid out the appropriate exit.

The doctor ran a shaking hand through his white hair and let out a breath, "This is- this is phenomenal Agdar! You have made the impossible! Scientifically impossible! Normal blood pressure, blood rate is good, even the diastole and systole are not hesitating! And that black box is-"

"Is the main power for the heart, yes. Completely safe, I tested it multiple times in different situations, and all clean power, probably the cleanest in Corona." Despite the depressing news that were weighing down his shoulders, the inventor couldn't help but puff out his chest in pride. He had worked on this for Anna and his exertion finally paid off. Now it was time to give it its purpose.

"_Apologies for the interruption Sir, but I send you my condolences and concern on the behalf of your daughter."_

"Thank you EVE, and I appreciate the care, but that won't be necessary, Anna will be alright and operation will commence tomorrow morning." He faced Ludwig and pulled a weak smile.

"She will be alright."

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**Prologue! Thanks for checking this story out! This is my first elsanna fic so I hope I contributed to the fandom with this littl idea of mine. I took anatomy class in high school and am currently in a kinesiology class so I know a few things about the body (sorry if there are any errors, I wrote this in the summer, the time I'm supposed to be relaxing from school), so yeeaaaa this was just going to be a story that I wrote for myself but I thought eh, why not? Rating will be M due to violence and language and maybe some plotless(?) sut later on? Till next chapter mates!**

**Edit: I am so frickin sorry. I uploaded the still-in-progress version of this story. Fixed it**


	2. Message From the Dead

**Usual disclaimer**

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A beeping noise broke the silence of the room followed by an automated message, "_Favor of visual intercom permission from Thermal Room 104. Sent today at 09:14. Subject: Warm Hugs, colon, right parenthesis." _The beeping stopped but the light was still flashing, casting a faint glow over the desk and walls. A pair of soft blue eyes opened out of fatigue and quickly squinted from the bright light source. After clearing their throat to make a clear answer, a quiet voice spoke out.

"Permission granted."

A _blip_ sounded and appearing on the overhead screen projected on the massive window shown a pale boy, about in his late teenage years, with messy black hair, black rimmed glasses that surrounded black eyes, and cute buck teeth that were presently in a huge smile. The scene around him was filled with gauges and valves and a lot of graphs and monitors that were too complicated to read.

"_Hi Elsa!"_, was what firstly came out as soon as the screen appeared. The greeting probably had the same frequency of a gun shot because the blonde cringed in her seat, still trying to wake up.

"Olaf. You know the computers can't compute what emoticons you put in the body of a message."

"_I know! But it would just be too boring to send a message with no smiley face!" _Elsa couldn't believe the boy's smile could get any bigger. Before he could even begin to start pulling a muscle, Elsa got right into business.

"So what's the report? Are the temperature gauges at minimum?"

"_Everything seems to be at your acquired position, warm air is circulating evenly throughout the town and the anemometer is measuring low winds. Nothing drastic so far. Warm hugs for everyone!" _Olaf jumped in his seat with arms opened wide, eyes twinkling under the thick glasses.

Elsa couldn't help but smile at her friend's attitude towards the whole situation. Her demeanor changed though when she remembered the condition they were going to face. She coughed and straightened her back, putting on her queenly demeanor.

"So far… We still need to make sure that the right amount of heat is going out the way I want it to until regulations change. We shouldn't lean back out of relaxation and forget about what is to come. A cold and extensive winter _is_ coming and Arendelle has shown to be low in electricity due to the weakening generator. We need to keep the systems stable until I find another source of energy to sustain Arendelle. I couldn't bear to see my father's land be put under perpetual winter without me at least striving to prevent it."

Elsa was now wide awake, fully aware that tablets and devices were strewn about on her desk in her effort to locate a viable power source. She had sleepless nights with only the stars and screens to illuminate her room and only a small meal plan operated by her to be brought to her study via vacuum shoot.

Gerda insisted to bring her food, but the Queen reasoned that her meal times were incoherent due to her work and she didn't want the maid to bring her nourishment in the middle of the night. Her thoughts were interrupted by another visual intercom notification sounding on the side of the screen.

"_URGENT: Syndicate Based Visual Intercom receiving from Corona by Dr. Agdar Christian. Sent 18:32, year 2056. Favor to display?"_

_Agdar Christian? _Elsa thought. _Didn't he and his household die in a fire seven years ago? It was all over the coms… and the authorities still have no idea what the cause of the fire was. Wait…_

Elsa's eyes shifted back to the sent date. _2056! Seven years ago! How…? How is that possible? _No matter how plausible Elsa tried to fathom this phenomenon, the light kept blinking, proving that this was in fact an intercom message from the past.

"Olaf, I want you to see this with me. It's a message from Dr. Agdar Christian." She stepped out of her seat and rushed to the other side of her desk, taking a small tablet that was placed on the floor while at the same time issuing orders, "Computer, record video intercom and relay Thermal Room 104 communicator to adjacent panel and current video message. And inform Captain Bjorgman and Admiral Westergard to report to my study at once." Meanwhile, Olaf barely registered what the skittish blonde had said.

"D-Dr. Christian? _The _Dr. Christian? The first person ever to sustain a carbon based structure with an artificial organ? That man was a genius! But… he's dead isn't he?" Elsa flopped back into her seat and turned on her handheld device, "Exactly. The reason why I want you to see this. And the message was placed as "urgent" so it must be important."

She cleared her throat before speaking again, "Favor granted." Elsa was anxious to know what the reason for such an intercom to resurface for after all these years. And why was it sent to her?

The first thing that met Elsa's senses was a piercing alarm coming from the video and the surrounding area flashing a bright red. The room was scattered of equipment, tools, and broken medical screens. Elsa assumed that she was being presented a lab or hospital room of some sort judging by the machines. Suddenly a man appeared into the picture with light brown hair, a well shaven moustache, and tired eyes. His coat was torn and burned at some places but overall he seemed unharmed. He looked straight passed Elsa first, adjusted the screen, and then sat in front of the video camera.

"_I have fifteen minutes… Okay, as you can see, I am Dr. Agdar Christian and alive, well at least for right now. I'm betting that you may be confused as to how an intercom from seven years ago was able to be received in your time. I'll explain all of that after I get my statement through. Arendelle kingdom… I am in need of your help," _The door to her room opened and in came a broad shouldered man with a mop of blonde hair and a shorter, fit man with ridiculous side burns and red, stylished hair. Both were wearing the same uniform, only the sideburned man had more metals. Elsa nodded to them and they joined her at her desk.

_ "My current situation is not a good one; there is a fire in the estate caused by rouges who call themselves the Weasel Brothers and the whole system is going haywire. They had sent an untraceable message to me declaring I hand over my daughter for unknown reasons and they had just recently broken passed the exterior portion of our household. EVE's structure has been tampered with so her security system is at a hopeless scale to even defend the manor. I'm here currently in Ward 13 with my daughter Anna who is still in her coma from her operation two years ago. The room is… *sigh* under all the security I can muster out of EVE. They told me to ensure Anna's safety… That they will hold them off as long as they can. And Idunn…" _The doctor went silent for a few seconds, the alarm still blaring. His eyes were downcast and Elsa could see that he was close to tears. "_I'm going back to her. Just, right now I need to do this."_

The intercom-ed Agdar move his body aside and Elsa now realized that there was a bed in the room. A young girl was lying in a clear cased bed with an oxygen mask attached around her head and was clad in a white gown that was far too big for her. Various types of colored patches were placed all over vital areas of where her pulse and major blood arteries were. The case was animated with numbers and measurements on her body temperature, heart rate, and brain impulses. Tubes were coming out from her chest and legs and bags were hanging from the bottom of the bed.

Elsa could barely see it but the young girl had strawberry blonde, shoulder length hair that spilled over her pillow. The girl's father gestured towards her, "_She's placed under regulatory checkups and given daily nutrition issued at a consistent period. Her urinary system is flushed out automatically when released and constant oxygen is present in the chamber." _

Among the chaos in the background a robotic voice struggled to be made out. "_Dr. Christian, my systems show that they have infiltrated the medical building. They are in the west wing and the fire has spread to the south. Chances of escape are low." _Agdar listened attentively before turning back to the camera. "_She will be placed under strict refuge after I leave this place and EVE will continue to run using her emergency generator." _He scooted back into his previous position and looked directly at Elsa, causing a shiver to slither down her spine.

"_I need you to retrieve her. By the time you get this message, her body will have rebuilt itself around her artificial heart and the radiation due to EVE's defense mechanism will have reduced to breathable air. As soon as that happens, she will wake up from her coma caused by a specific gas that will be released into her mask once entering the area. I have operated a certain protection procedure that will be available only to you to enter this room. It will be attached to this video message along with my journal regarding her operation. Once you take her… she will have no knowledge of the outside world, no understanding of what it really is like outside. Please teach her the beauty and complexness of our earth. Take her in as another daughter, teach her how to laugh and how to fly a scout ship, just anything that will make her feel no less of a normal human girl."_

_"Sir, five minutes remaining until they are two hundred yards from the ward,"_

Agdar leaned out of his seat and typed in a code off screen. "_Seven years. Give her seven years to recover and retrieve her then. I have coded a programmed timer to send this intercom and your relayed IP address is entered." _The typing stopped after a quick tap. "_She depends on you King Anders."_

And with that he smiled a weak smile and stood up from his seat, walked over to Anna and placed a delicate hand on the glass chamber. "_EVE convey Code ERA to Ward 13 and gather any available resistance to be put around this room once I leave."_

_"Yes sir. It was an honor working with you doctor."_

_"Thank you EVE. Take care of Anna."_ With one last pat to the transparent case, Agdar swooped out of the visual, off screen, and the intercom ended. Elsa's handheld beeped with two new memos that were recently transferred from the video message. Olaf gasped in his feed while her two consorts whispered to each other.

Elsa on the other hand sat in her chair, dazed. _King Anders. This was a message to my father. But... because he died so early, he never got to see this transmitted to him.._

_"_What suppose we do Your Highness?" The voice came from the red haired man. Elsa stooped from her thoughts and opened the memos that were on her tablet. She swiped upwards and they were shown on the overhead.

"This was intended to be sent to my father but since he's long gone the matter is now put into my hands. We will go retrieve this girl and she will be under our protection until protocol changes. Hans, you and you're men will accompany me on this mission, and Kristoff, we will be using your ship to sail to Corona under your direction. As for mercenary issues, the so called Weasel Brothers will still be trying to kidnap the girl. I suspect that the security system will be able to impede their efforts until we arrive, until then, we get the girl and move out, avoiding causality at all costs unless needed. Do you understand?" Even though Elsa was facing the screen in front of her, Hans and Kristoff still sent their approving response.

Elsa continued reading the doctor's journal and a certain excerpt astounded her. " 'On November 12, year 54, Anna has shown to still be in her coma but the heart has been discovered to reach about 10 gigawatts of power, enough to power even the whole manor and still comprise extra energy' " Elsa read aloud. Kristoff let out a long whistle, "That doctor sure is a genius."

Elsa rolled her chair so that she was facing the two behind her, she was about to say something when she noticed that Hans had his eyebrows knitted together, looking to the ground, and arms crossed.

"What is it Hans?" asked Elsa. The admiral stayed silent for a few seconds before lifting his head up.

"A thought just passed me, Your Highness._ Ten_ gigawatts is a lot of power and in one source? That's certainly convenient. I was just thinking, it should be possible that we can tap the energy and use that to power Arendelle for the winter. Given the thought that no harm is put to the girl."

Elsa was shocked, she didn't know what to think about such a procedure to be given to the girl, even more so to one that they were put in charge to watch over by a deceased inventor. Hans seemed to sense Elsa's uneasiness and fought to indulge his request.

"Look, Elsa, you've been working too hard over the matter of searching for an alternative to a supplementary generator. I'm just saying that since a door opened to this opportunity, you should take it willingly for the good of the people. And there might not come another advantage towards our situation. Think about what your father would do." There was sympathy in the tone of his voice by the time he finished his statement. Kristoff looked at Elsa and saw that she was thinking hard about Hans' suggestion_. Hans is right, this could be the only solution to saving Arendelle and possibly the best. My father would want me to do what's best… right?_ Finally she spoke, "Olaf, is there a possibility that what Hans said could be done?"

The technician was unusually quiet since the end of the late doctor's last message, but once he heard his name, he immediately reverted to his usual self. _"Um, it is possible, a bit arduous, but nothing that I can't aim to operate! I'll work my hardest if you just give me the cue!"_

"Seeing that this window of opportunity has been bestowed upon us, it seems only fitting that I should take it and that I am only acting in favor for the safety of Arendelle. I agree to Hans' proposal and we will set out tomorrow at o'eight hours." The Queen was about to stand from her seat when she was interrupted by the young adult's voice.

_"Um, Elsa? If my guides are correct, it seems that the winter weather has already consumed most of Corona and that travel to and fro are dangerously impossible. How would you propose to voyage there?"_

Elsa softly sat back and swirled her chair towards Olaf. With a smile she looked up at him, "Well by the stars of course. And I would also need that kind of thinking on the ship so how about it Olaf? Care to go on your first trip aboard a spacecraft?"

The gleam in Olaf's eyes twinkled even more as his signature smile spread across his face.

"You will be manning the engineering portion and report any signs of temperature or weather disturbance. Once we arrive however, you will be working alongside Kristoff as he flies our vessel over our destination." Elsa knew that Olaf was a smart kid and that his intelligence on meteorological conditions had helped her immensely when it came to protecting Arendelle. She couldn't do this without him.

_"I will do my best!"_ After jiggling in his seat for a few seconds, he leapt out of his chair and hugged his screen, which Elsa assumed since all she could see was black and sounds of the audio piece being scratched. Once he came back on, Kristoff gave him a big smile and two thumbs up while Hans flashed his reputable grin.

After sending Olaf on his way to get ready and giving Kristoff and Hans additional commands, she was left alone in her study again, only the homescreen to the castle network giving light to the dark room. She swiped through Dr. Christian's journal again and came across Anna's profile. A picture that was taken to be assumed when she was ten years old was the image they had used. The strawberry blonde girl was beaming up at Elsa and she couldn't help but notice that an oxygen tube was placed in her nose and her face looked frail. _How could she be so cheerful when she's going through this?_ After minutes pondering a viable reason, Elsa shook her head and swiped the memo closed.

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**Till next chapter!**


	3. Rescue!

**School has just been ech. And this chapter was deleted spontaneously by my computer so. BLARG. Had to REWRITE IT. Thank you IMMENSELY to the people who favorited and followed this story. I love you ALL. **

**Chapter 3!**

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It took approximately three days for the _North Mountain_ to depart from Arendelle and orbit near Corona. Once they were over the country, the spaceship descended down into the atmosphere, experiencing the stormy climate that had produced over Corona. The whole crew was working hard to keep their trajectory right so as to not pass over the isolated kingdom.

Olaf was briefly informing Elsa and Hans at the bridge table. They were in their respected suits and head gear were in each of their hands and were both nodding and murmuring until the meeting adjourned.

"Latitude 66.68842, longitude 128.53544, and distortion 6.39. That's the only area where the winter winds are not as destructible and is conveniently surrounding the area the doctor pointed out in his note. We can tether your scouting vessel to the ship as you fly down and retrieve Anna. If anything fails as you return to the ship, we can just pull you up and get you guys here in one piece!"

"Good work Olaf. Inform Captain Bjorgman the coordinates you relayed to us and to ready the vessel. Admiral Hans and I will make our way to the deporting zone." Olaf saluted to her before making his way up the stairs and onto control deck. Hans sped his walk a bit to catch up with Elsa.

"Are you sure this Anna girl will still be contained by the time we get there? I mean it _has_ been seven years since the actual intercom was recorded. Maybe something happened to the system and she was already abducted by those two rogues-"

"Admiral, I understand you're worrying but you were the one who requested that we use her as technical insurance. I'm not about to back down from a chance that could change the future of Arendelle. And if she was kidnapped, then we'll just rescue her, easy as that. Surely you've experienced heavier wars than a rescue mission, correct?"

Hans changed his gaze to the ground and murmured under his breath, "Yes Your Majesty."

Elsa reverted her head forward and continued walking, pleased that the admiral could see this through her eyes for a brief moment. She was Queen after all; they had no choice but to follow her and obey her commands, and everything she does was for the benefit of the kingdom.

They stopped at the manning site to obtain guns, fiber optic cables, and close combat knives in case worse comes to worse before taking the stairs down to the deporting zone. Hans' men, which consisted of only two men (we're retrieving a _girl_ Elsa, we don't need an armada), were already standing outside the vessel, geared and all.

They saluted to Elsa as she passed and she was handed her tablet before entering the scout ship. Once they were all inside and a quick "good luck" was said by the crewmen, Elsa flipped on the switches and the machine hummed to life, not before her dashboard static-ed Kristoff's face.

"Your Highness, we are currently a quarter of a mile from your destination so you are suitable for disengagement. Just a note, we are going to be experiencing turbulent winds as we stay inert so order for a pull up will be advised to convey in only an emergency due to the portway floor having to stay open to haul the vessel up. Good fortune." Kristoff leaned back in his chair and was about to press the end button.

"And happy flying!", was what Olaf was able to get through before the screen _blipped_ to black. Elsa sat back in her chair and took a deep breath. She looked back at Hans and his men and nodded to them, a silent approval shared before she signaled the crewmen to open the portway. As soon as even a foot opened, snow and wind soared into the area and the ship teetered, causing Elsa and her crew to falter inside. She noticed that the men outside were holding onto anything they could to resist being blown away. The winds were resisting the ship from falling forward so Elsa and her crew remained immobile, the portway lingering open for them.

Elsa needed to leave _right now._

With a firm hold on the yoke, she strained her head back and shouted above the noise.

"I'm going to need to engage the thrusts! Everybody hang on!" With one hand, she lifted a glass case on the dashboard and pushed a red button. The ship bolted forward, down the portway and into white oblivion. The scout vessel swerved this way and that before Elsa finally had a secure hold on the steering.

The winds were bad but not as turbulent as they were when they were on the _North Mountain_. Elsa could hear the pounding of the winds on the exterior of the vessel and her anxiousness rose. How was she supposed to find the lab?

A particular strong wind shook the ship which caused Elsa to stagger. _I can't stay in this weather for too long, we'll be battered to death if we don't land soon. _

After a few minutes of aimless flying and constant thrashes from the winter winds, Elsa and her crew experienced a period of just smooth sailing.

_What?_ Elsa looked forward and saw the same fierce weather everywhere_.. but there are no winds…?_

"It… seems that this area is not affected by the weather, Your Majesty," stated Hans from the back.

"Indeed so… I think this is a good place to land for now." Elsa inputted commands onto the control keyboard and swiftly pressed enter. The yoke handle moved forward and turned so that it was horizontal. Elsa took hold of the handle and pushed down slowly.

The craft descended down smoothly, much to Elsa's relief, and they landed on the ground with a prolonged bounce on the hydraulics. Elsa turned off the ship and made her way to the back, where Hans and his men were already getting ready.

They hooked retractable cables to each other to ensure that none of them drifted apart, and donned on the appropriate gear for the cold: facial masks that fitted over the nose, a cloth that acted as both a scarf and a hood, and technical engineered goggles that could alter your vision to see through dust storms and blizzards.

Once Elsa attached her tablet to her utility belt, she pressed a button on the door wall, put in the code and the ship door unlatched, revealing them to the open world.

It was still windy and cold but the breeze was only turned down to a minimum and snow was just lightly falling from the sky. The unaffected area was approximately a mile in diameter, having have landed on the edge of the calm land. When Elsa and her crew finally stood among the vast, empty area, she issued orders.

"Search the perimeter. Find anything that looks like it could lead to Dr. Christian's lab and report to me at once. The cables should keep us bound to each other so don't stray too far. Report back in ten minutes." They all gave her the respectable nod and went on their way, leaving Elsa to stand by the ship, quietly wondering if this mission will be successful.

* * *

"So there was nothing? No rock out of place? Fallen log or… sign that says, "Look here?"

"None, Your Majesty. This area is as barren as a desert. There's nothing particular to look for because there is literally _nothing_ in this stretch of land."

Elsa groaned out of exasperation then paced the ground for a bit, hand over mouth and eyes focused on the ground. _There has to be something…_

Elsa paced some more until she stopped abruptly, head shooting back up with a speed that Hans thought could snap her head back, and un-magnetized her tablet from her belt. She replayed the doctor's video message, "-_I need you to retrieve her. By the time you get this message, her body will have rebuilt itself around her artificial heart and the radiation due to EVE's defense mechanism will have reduced to breathable air. As soon as that happens, she will wake-" _Elsa rewind the video before the part she wanted to hear, "-_and the radiation due to EVE's defense mechanism will have reduced to breathable air-"_

_That's it!_

"That's it!" She looked at her admiral with such revelation, suspecting that he had solved the mystery as well, only to be rewarded with a confused look in his eyes through his goggles.

"The radiation! The doctor disclosed that the lab would be surrounded by radiation! Find radiation, find the lab." She switched the setting in her goggles to sense radiation waves that were 106 megahertz or lower. Once the setting finished modifying, Elsa saw an abundant amount of radiation waves 5 yards away from her.

Elsa made her way to the affected area and looked around, wondering whatever made that spot so significant. As Elsa looked up at the expanse of the sky, she realized.

_The untouched area is formed as a perfect circle! _The blonde looked down from where she was standing and looked back up. _And this is the center of the circle!_

Elsa chuckled to herself, "Doctor, you crazy bastard…" Then a beep resounded from her tablet. She pulled it out and on the screen was a radiating blue button that said "Initiate?"

"Elsa!" Hans came jogging to Elsa's side along with his soldiers. Elsa shot him a look and he faltered, "Er-Queen. Did you find something?"

"I did, and I think we're about to officially start our mission, Admiral." Elsa touched the radiating button and her screen _blipped_ to black.

A beam shot down from the tablet's camera and onto the ground not long before a cylinder of light shot back to the tablet. A stream of code flashed across Elsa's screen and into the light, sinking into the ground. Then a low rumbling resonated beneath them and a crevice opened in the ground, a flight of stairs leading deeper into the earth.

Elsa's heart was beating rhythmically the entire time and it sped as she was shown the entrance of the doctor's lab. She took steadying breaths and closed her eyes before checking her tablet again. This time, instead of a radiant button on the screen, the display was split in half with the top half presenting a sideways triangle and the bottom half consisting a green button with a grey line encircling it.

_It's probably for the security feature later on. Well… here goes._

Elsa shouldered her phaser rifle and stepped down the steps, Hans and the other men following after. The automatic torchlight on their goggles came on as soon as they were engulfed by darkness and Elsa saw that the stairwell was handmade, despite the use of technology they had now. They soon reached level ground and it was silent apart from their muffled breathing and boots scraping the cement floor.

The obstacle that was in their way was an ordinary cement door with a small, single hole in the middle. With Elsa dumbfounded at the new discovery, Hans strutted to the stone door and pushed. And when that didn't do anything, he tried sliding it, resulting in the same act of not achieving anything. When Hans called his men over to help him push, Elsa inspected the little hole. She stuck a finger through it and it only went as deep as half the top of her finger.

Through grunts and complaints, Hans addressed to Elsa, "It's no use. The door won't budge no matter what we do to it." Then amidst the darkness, Elsa's screen lit up.

In place of the security feature was the stream of code that had descended into the earth, flashing across Elsa's screen. Curious, Elsa took out her tablet and lifted it to the cavity so that the camera was in line with the hole. The whole area lit up when a laser scanned the camera and instantly went back to darkness afterwards. The door then pushed inwards and slid open, clearing Elsa and her crew the last obstacle to the doctor's lab.

_Now_ their mission has begun.

And they could never imagine it to start out like this.

They were presented a dark and stuffy hallway that was strewn with ash and debris on the floor. There were blast marks all over the walls and burn spots covering every surface of the hall. Broken furniture lay across the floor, broken and charred. Skeletons of robots lay dead on the floor, their artificial skin still clinging onto their metal anchors. No bodies were found, fortunately, but the scene was still dreadful.

Elsa's eyes fell on the one thing that stood out from the forgotten disaster; an ordinary door that had been spared from the flames, clean and not burnt. The blonde shuffled her way, spewing a small cloud of ash whenever she walked. Meanwhile, Hans signaled his men to check the rest of the hallway.

On the wall to the side of the door was only one feature, a transmitter with a button. With no other alternative, Elsa pressed the button and lifted her tablet to the receiver, tapping the play button on the screen.

"_The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents," _was a sentence that came from the doctor's voice.

A successful beep responded back and then a _click_. The space below the transmitter folded out and a small metal place shot out. By now, Elsa knew the procedure so she lifted her tablet again and held onto the button with the grey line.

When held, the grey line turned blue and once it completed the circle, mist came out from the tablet speaker and onto the plate. As soon as it finished streaming the mist, the plate folded back into the wall and the door to the lab finally opened.

Elsa called to Hans and they came running back, creating a cloud of ash to form when they ran.

*cough* "Careful Admiral!" *cough* "We're in an enclosed space. We can't afford to be suffocated during our mission!" After a few seconds of catching their breath, the queen straightened her posture and readied her rifle.

"The doctor's security keys worked so the lab is open. I want you, Admiral, to cover me when I go inside while your two men take watch outside. We'll go retrieve the girl and make our way out as soon as possible. Is that clear?" Elsa whispered.

Her men exclaimed mutual agreement so she turned towards the lab and took another deep breath before stepping through hesitantly. As soon as she did, though, a voice broke the chilling silence and nearly made Elsa yelp in fright. Hans jumped but immediately aimed his rifle in the direction of where he heard the voice, which was straight at the ceiling so how would that make sense?

"_Welcome King Anders. I would like to congratulate you in finding the doctor's lab- wait." _As if Elsa wasn't spooked already, a beam of light shot out from the ceiling and scanned her, generating more alarm in the blonde.

"_Apologies. Welcome Princess Elsa. My name is EVE. The doctor informed me that your father would be the one that I would be meeting. Is your father with you?"_

Elsa had calmed down by now when she realized that it was just EVE who had spoken from the dead silence. Her lips pursed when EVE asked her question.

"My.. father passed two years ago along with my mother when they ventured out to discuss politics with a faraway kingdom. There was a terrorist attack in the capitol where their suite was and they died in the process of evacuating the citizens."

There was a silence and Elsa swore that EVE had crashed from all the years but she was told otherwise when her robotic voice responded.

"_I'm sorry Princess-no, Queen Elsa. My condolences are put forth towards your parents_."

Elsa smiled sadly, "Thank you EVE. Now, back to business, is Anna here?"

"_She is. The gas that was going to be used to wake her had activated once you stepped in. She's actually waking up from her coma in her stasis chamber in the back. Oh and Queen Elsa?"_

"Yes?"

"_Doctor Christian inputted an order that I shut down once Anna wakes up. He operated a message to be given to Anna, so as your last mission, can you be sure she gets it when she is awake and safe?"_

At that request, the Queen sympathized with the doctor through EVE's bid. It must have been hard for Dr. Christian to give up his daughter at such a young age but he was giving her her best chance in life, and that could only be fulfilled with the sacrifice of another. Elsa knew that very well from her parent's death.

"Of course EVE."

"Thank you, Queen Elsa. " Her notification sound from her tablet beeped with a new installment. "Anna depends on you." And with that, the room was silent again. Elsa looked to Hans and he pursed his lips, eyes shining with empathy. She shouldered her rifle and walked tentatively to the back of the lab, heart racing with her encounter with Anna.

Sure enough, the room she saw in her intercom with Dr. Christian was in the exact same condition seven years ago, only this time, there wasn't a sleeping patient on the bed. Elsa stopped dead in her tracks when she witnessed the now grown woman wearily rubbing her eyes, arm stretching into the air. Her once big hospital gown now fit her perfectly and her strawberry blonde hair reached to the middle of her back. Her body obviously showed signs of aging but in a healthy way; baby fat vanished from her face, arms and legs, and her chest was certainly big girl size. Elsa blushed and quickly looked away, doing math in her head instead. _She was twelve when she was comatose, and it's been seven years, so she's nineteen now._

Elsa could associate with her, she was just three years older. Her reassurance dropped greatly when Anna locked eyes with Elsa, and if she didn't know better, Anna looked terrified.

"W-w-who are you?"

Being the ever so prepared monarch she is, Elsa knew exactly what to say if the meeting turned into this direction. She straightened her back and put on her "queen" face.

"No need to be afraid. My name is Elsa-"

"Why do you have a gun? You have a gun!" The redhead pointed at the disregarded weapon on Elsa's back then realized that there was a second body in the room. "He has a gun also!" She pointed at Hans as well and reared back in her chamber, giving as much distance as she can from the strangers.

"You're here to kidnap me!"

Elsa sighed, _yeah way to go Elsa, show the rescuee you mean no harm then flash your gun to them. _

She showed Anna her palm to show she meant no harm and slowly unshouldered her phaser with the other hand, prompting Hans to do so also. She tossed it aside, hoping it would lift any fear from Anna.

"It's alright. We mean no harm. We were sent by your father-"

"My father? Where is my father? EVE-"

"-Your…" Elsa didn't want to break it to her like this. "-father died.. alongside your mother while defending the manor from a fire… There's nothing left…"

Anna's eyes widened in disbelief and her body sagged. She struggled to respond back, "No.. no, not while I was here. How can they leave me..? How…" She looks to Elsa and Hans, "You're lying!" Anna jumped off the bed, grabs the nearest item (which were a pair of scissors), and points it at Elsa.

"You're here to take me away and use my heart for.. whatever bad things you people do! My parents.. they can't be.. they can't…"

But the look in Elsa's eyes said otherwise, and Anna couldn't quite make out why but the way the blonde's eyes shimmered with empathy caused realization to flood in and drown her senses. With a sob, Anna's arm fell to her side and she collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down her freckled face.

Elsa rushed to Anna's side, determined to comfort her but unsure of how, so she awkwardly sat beside the crying redhead.

Elsa had to try.

"Anna… your parents.. their death wasn't meaningless. They were trying to save you and they wanted you to have a chance to live."

A sniffle but Anna still wasn't opening up.

"My parents died trying to save people from a raid, so when I was told of the tragedy, I became angry at everyone and everything. I shut myself in my room and distanced myself from everyone. But as time passed, I understood why my parents died. Their duty was to think of the good of the people and act upon their needs, and they did just that. Sure it was unfair, but it would have killed my parents even more if they had left those people to perish. So they died staying true to their obligation."

"Your parent's obligation was to make sure you were safe and I want to keep them reassured that you are secure for their sake, so.. will you please trust me and _know_ that we are not here to hurt you?" Elsa prayed that Anna would trust them so they could leave. They had stayed for too long than Elsa expected and she wanted to get back to the ship without any difficulties.

Anna finally uncovered her face and gave Elsa a meek nod. Elsa smiled a little and stood up, offering a hand to Anna. Elsa was surprised that Anna took it but she still helped her up nonetheless. With one last sniff, Anna wiped her face with the sleeve of her gown.

"Alright, Anna, Admiral Westergard. Admiral, Anna," Elsa gestured between the two of them. Hans stuck out his hand, and once Anna placed her hand on his, he grasped it and shook it fervently.

He flashed his signature grin, "Pleased to finally meet you Anna, but you can call me Hans." With Anna speechless with the sudden formality, Elsa cleared her throat, making Hans cease shaking the nerves out of Anna's hands.

"Now then, if you will please follow us, we will be-"

"Well now. Looks like we were late to the party."

The new voice in the room made Elsa's blood run cold. She shot her head to the source and her worst fear for the mission was standing right in front of them, laser pistol pointing right at them.

The Weasel Brothers.

* * *

**Yup. Poor Anna, just woke up from a seven year coma, met some strangers, learned her parents died, and is now about to face some bad guys. I do love her though so I'm not doing this intentionally. Plot people, plot. Put up drawings of what Elsa, Anna, Hans, and Kristoff look like in this story on my Tumblr so you guys can peak and get an image. I feel like sci fi stories need pictures for better explaining. Till next chapter you geeks!**


	4. The Protector

**Got this one out quickly WHEW with break coming up next week and finals after, I'll try to get the next chapter in asap. Cuz you know, fandom before college right?**  
**Please don't hate me.**

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The leering of the Weasel Brothers could give a brave man faintheartedness any day; the toothy grin of their sneers, the murderous gleam in their piercing eyes, and no doubt all the countless massacres that were on their hands. Elsa was determined to not be a part of their murder streak.

The moment they intruded, the queen immediately took note of what they looked like: each wore a thick magenta tunic with a hood and leather boots. Covering the tunics was a piece of tattered cloth that acted as a cloak. The taller one, which she assumed to be the oldest had a mop of dirty brown hair that connected to muttonchops. The younger one had a neater style and adorned sideburns, to place for a feature of facial hair.

_Interesting hair styles for homicidal criminals._

She felt Anna grasp tightly to her uniform and she could only imagine how Anna's day going was so far. Although Elsa looked calm, her heart was beating against her chest, adrenaline and concern coursing through her veins.

Her gun was on the floor and she wouldn't expect Hans to throw it to her if he didn't want a laser through his head. She looked around the room discretely, looking for any possible use of the broken equipment. Meanwhile the hulking man let out a gruff laugh.

"I do apologize for interrupting this friendly gathering but my brother and I have come for the girl. Your lackeys weren't willing to compromise but I do hope you two will if you don't want to share the same fate as them." He started walking towards Elsa and Hans, drawing out a weapon similar to a crossbow, only the arrow was energized with electricity, proved by the cackle of energy as it was tugged out. The other brother moved also, the gun in his gloved hands whirring. Elsa looked beside her and saw that Anna was absolutely frightened, the fear in her eyes even greater than when she encountered Elsa. A tug in her heart caused Elsa to sympathize with the young woman, barely waking up from a seven year coma and she was already being threatened.

Her mind was running now, _what can we do…_ She looked down and recognized that the chamber had wheels that aided in support. She looked back at the men and then at Hans, who in turn looked at Elsa. She quickly flicked her eyes downward and he nodded in agreement. The Weasel Brothers were now three feet away from them.

"I'm guessing that cooperation is not a strong suite for you."

"How about we start killing 'em Gunther?"

"Good id-"

"NOW HANS!"

Hans jumped behind the table just as Elsa pulled Anna down with her. They pushed the table with as much power as they can and rammed it at the Weasel Brothers, causing them to stumble backwards onto a broken dashboard. Elsa quickly grabbed her gun and ran out of the room, hand in Anna's and Hans close behind them. She prompted to cover Anna's eyes as they passed her murdered comrades on the floor, with Hans cutting their lines that were still attached to their bodies, before making it out and into the hallway.

"You fucking bitch! You can't run away from us! Holger! Toss me an arrow!"

Elsa took a short intake of breath before pulling Anna close to her body and away from the entrance. Hans barely escaped the bolt that whizzed right at him and had stuck onto the wall behind him. Elsa started running towards the flight of stairs, not before firing a couple of shots at the ground behind them, spewing a cloud of ash. As they made their way up the stairs, they could hear the Weasel Brothers tripping and cursing at the debris they had blindly fallen over. Light was present as Elsa, Hans, and Anna made it to the top of the stairs, almost free from the rogues.

"We're almost there!

"Hans! I need you to head to the ship and start the engines. Take Anna with you!"

They were at last outside, back on upper ground.

"Elsa I won't lea- OOF!" Hans looked down and saw that his tie was having restraint. He looked back and saw the remaining part of the cut cable in the hands of Gunther, the older brother. The rogue flashed a quick smirk and pulled on the cable, making Hans and Elsa stumble back. It was a battle of tug-o-war and Elsa and Hans had no chance whatsoever. At this rate, they were both going to be in the hands of both murderers, with Anna left vulnerable and alone. All their work for nothing. But Hans wouldn't let that happen.

Trying to resist as much as possible, he pulled out his wire cutters he used earlier and cut the cable that was tethering Elsa to him. Elsa fell back, not without realizing what Hans had done.

"No!" Elsa yelled. Gunther was now standing on top of the stairs, a firm grasp still on Hans' tether. She pulled her rifle to her shoulder and tried to aim at the brother, except Hans was in the way and she couldn't shoot without hitting him. Hans tried to fire a shot at him but as soon as he pulled up his rifle, the brute grabbed the muzzle, knocked Hans with it, and tossed it aside.

What happened next staggered Elsa.

The older Weasel Brother spun on the heel of his feet, gathering momentum from Han's weight and flung his unconscious body into the air. Elsa didn't have time to register that Hans was probably dead now but her anger spurred her actions. She cocked her rifle and aimed at Gunther's head, not hesitating to blow his brains out.

But she realized that the crossbow wasn't aimed at her. It was aimed at Anna.

As soon as the redhead realized that she was in danger of being punctured _and_ electrocuted, she curled in on herself and whimpered fearfully. Gunther chuckled darkly, "If you don't want your pretty little friend over there to get electricity through her legs, I suggest you put your weapon down missy." Scowling, Elsa lowered her weapon, fingers twitching on the trigger.

"Turn it off." Elsa flicked the switch harder than she needed to.

"And throw it aside." It was unbelievable how angry Elsa was as she tossed her weapon. Anna could see it in her eyes but nothing scared her more than being handed over to those killers. She had never been in this situation, and she didn't suspect that a plan would just manifest into her head at the moment. What she could do at the moment though, was stay with Elsa.

"Now, I'm gonna need you to hand over that little lady beside you." The younger brother finally made it out of the stairs, his face covered in ash and scratches. He cocked his pistol and aimed it at them.

Elsa stood in front of Anna, shoulders square and jaw set. "No. If you're going to take her, you're taking me too."

Anna was Elsa's mission. She couldn't just hand her over to homicidal thugs. Who knew what they would do to her? If anything, as long as Elsa was with Anna, it would calm the redhead down if even by a little.

"And why would we need you?" Holger spat at Elsa.

Elsa furrowed her brows at him, "Because I have valuable information you might want."

Gunther squinted his beady eyes at Elsa before turning to his brother. He shrugged his shoulders and Gunther turned back to Elsa.

"Fine. If I find that your information is useless, I will not hesitate to kill you on the spot." Gunther shouldered his crossbow and flicked his gloved hand towards himself gesturing for them to come forward. Elsa looked down at Anna.

"We're going to make it through this. I'll think of something, I promise." Elsa flashed a quick grin and Anna couldn't help but feel a little better despite the situation they were in. Her eyes flicked down to the white teeth that were surrounding by pink lips. Anna shook her head out of her daze and gave a silent nod, clutching closer to Elsa if it were any more possible.

When they were close to the brothers, Elsa made sure that they were away from Anna as much as possible, shielding her with her body. With Gunther leading them, Elsa and Anna were in the middle with Holger stalking behind them. After a few minutes of walking away from the lab, something shimmering caught the corner of Elsa's eye. She slightly looked behind her with her head down and tried to scrutinize what she had seen. Through a rip in the younger brother's cloak was a piece of metal, gleaming every time his arm moved.

Elsa faced forward again, thinking of a possible solution. After a few minutes, Elsa regarded Anna and her grip on her arm. She placed her hand on Anna's and loosened her hand around Elsa's arm, drawing worry to Anna. Elsa smiled slightly to the girl before slowly putting her right hand into her jacket. She waited a few moments to dissolve any suspicion that had arisen from the man behind her and then like lightning, she turned around and threw her knife at the younger Weasel Brother.

Her mark was resolute and it had reached its target: Holger's upper arm. The sideburned man howled in pain and dropped his pistol. Elsa sprinted to pick it up but was halted by a warning from the older brother. She looked and saw Anna in the crook of his disgusting arm, the crossbow aimed at her head. Anna was struggling but at a minimum, completely over taken by the older man's strength and size. She was a sniveling mess and Elsa swore she was about to cry. The blonde clenched her fists and rose up, disappointed that her plan had failed but silently killing Gunther with the daggers in her eyes.

A pained grunt came from Holger as he twisted the knife free from his arm, sparking electricity. He hollered in agony again once the weapon was out, throwing it away and clutching his arm.

Elsa was right.

_His arm is a mechanical prosthetic substitute._

"That –huff- that bitch severed my –Ah!-cephalic motor system… I can't move my arm." Elsa heard footsteps come up from behind her but before she could even twist forward to face the older brother, a hard hand smashed onto the side of her face, causing the blonde to see stars and lose her footing. She heard Anna's cry for her as the ground was coming closer, but she was saved from the fall by a harsh tug of her uniform. She was lifted off her feet and into the air, the discomfort from the grasp affecting her ability to breathe.

She would have taken falling to the ground any day.

"That will be your last effort to escape, you hear? You try one more time and you won't just get a knife to the arm like what you did to my brother over there. I will make sure to make your torture be as painful and brutal as possible. Do you understand?" Elsa was gagging for oxygen by now, clawing at the hands that were clutching her uniform. Gunther growled, punched Elsa in the face again, before dropping her. Elsa wasn't even fazed that she was punched for a second time; she was too busy regaining her breath. But her effort was interrupted by a pull of her hair, resulting in a piercing shriek from the blonde and another cry from Anna.

"Get up." He threw her forward, sending her to her knees and a new resounding pain to her head. Anna rushed to Elsa, cradling her face in her hands. Her right side of the face was now blue and purple from the hit, and there was a cut above her eyebrow, drawing blood that trailed down to her chin. Blood was also flowing from her nose but what astounded Anna was the icy glow from Elsa's crystal blue eyes. They had been unaffected by the harsh treatment and were right now tender in the presence of Anna.

"A-are you-"

"I'm alright. I-I'm fine. He didn't hurt you did he?"

Anna was drawn back. Here was this young woman, whom she barely met just an hour ago, worrying about her safety and not her own. A stranger from another country. Elsa was patient with her from the start. Elsa was willing to get hurt just so Anna would be safe. Elsa was…

Anna tried to fight back a sob but failed miserably, so a sound similar to a tiny cough spouted through her lips. She buried her face into Elsa's neck and cried for the girl, pained that she caused her suffering. Elsa on the other hand, was never one for comfort nor was she a person of contact, but for some reason, all of her concerns were swept aside once Anna flung her arms around her neck and sobbed onto her skin. Elsa wrapped an arm around Anna's back and turned her head so that she can whisper into her ear.

"It's okay. It doesn't hurt anymore. But I do need you to stand up Anna. I don't want them to start hurting you also. Between both of us, I only want myself to receive any beatings. I can handle them but I couldn't bear if they laid a hand on you." The redhead sniffed before nodding and stood up, Elsa following shortly after. A harsh nudge was felt behind her back and she didn't need to sneer back at the Weasel Brother to acknowledge his directive.

The only thing on Elsa's mind at the moment was Anna.

* * *

The Weasel Brother's home was a bit far from their previous destination at Dr. Christian's lab. This meant they had to cross the grueling winds of the storm without a tether to one another, presenting a test of physical vigor for the redhead. Elsa gave Anna her coat, muttering something in the form of "The cold never bothered me anyway" and hoped that it would at least relieve the feeling of the cold under Anna's thin hospital gown. The blonde also hurriedly put her boots onto Anna's feet, aware that she had been walking barefoot the entire time since her awakening. She was met with a look of concern from Anna and Elsa merely reassured her and pointed out her thick socks. Afterwards, Anna concluded to huddling next to the blonde, spurring Elsa's anxiety for a few seconds until warming up to the feeling, so she sucked it up and nestled into Anna also. The brothers on the other hand were not deterred by the weather and continued to strictly jab them whenever they lagged.

Finally at their destination, unfortunately, Elsa only had a fraction of a second to judge the place before she was wrenched away from Anna, much to the strawberry blonde's distress. What Elsa determined was that their "home" was a mix of a dump and a make shift laboratory, most of the machines probably stolen. Her hands were chained separately and were raised above her head. The chaining process was unsurprisingly insensitive, being that Elsa was punched again; once she was on the ground once more, Gunther prompted in coiling the chains around her wrists, the rusty metal dragging across her skin causing burns. Elsa was lifted up so that she was barely on her toes, struggling to ease the pain off her wrists. Anna on the other hand was simply thrown into a cage made out of pipes, chicken wire, and pieces of wood nailed together. She scrambled off from the ground and grasped the wire, sniveling toward Elsa.

Holger slumped down onto a metal chair, ripped his sleeve off and inspected his arm injury. He connected a few wires but resulted in crying out in pain once more.

"You idiot. You know that only I should be connecting your filaments together. If you keep doing that, you'll lose your arm for sure." Out from the shadows walked a short, lanky old man with wired glasses, a dirty mustache and a messy toupee. He was shuffling forward with the help of a cane, which was gripped to death by bony knuckles. Elsa watched him, noticing that his skin was a sickly pale and his walk was tired and feeble.

"Pa, can you fix it? I can't move my arm."

_Pa?_ Elsa thought.

The old man swatted Holger's hand away from his arm and inspected the damage. He reconnected wires and replaced the necessary parts into Holger's arm then wrapped the wound with a dirty towel.

"If you get another stupid injury, I won't fix it. Parts are hard to come around these days and we're getting low in supplies unless we find that-"

"We finally brought the girl." The interruption from Gunther seemed to flip a switch in the old man's mind. His eyes grew wide and he turned around in such a force that Elsa thought he was going to twist his ankle. He trudged toward Gunther, cane clacking roughly on the cement.

"Where?! Show me where! After all these years-"

"We also brought another girl," Gunther responded. The old man jerked his head up at him. A loud slap echoed around the room as metal hit skin. Gunther fell on the floor, hand shooting to the spot on his face where he was hit, while the edge of the cane quivered at him.

"My only objective,_ boy_, is to retrieve _the_ girl. Not all the other living females in the area!" Another smack. "I swear, if I wasn't this old and frail I'd have gone and done the deed myself, but since I am, I need you and your brother to _properly_ follow my instructions. Is that _CLEAR?"_ The old man raised his cane above his head, a blow ready in his pale hands.

Gunther raised his hand in an attempt to shield the assault, "Y-yes, Pa. But she said she has valuable information. A-a-about the girl." The cane was stopped midway through hitting its target. The holder swerved around in his spot before locking view of Elsa and tramping her way. Once he was near enough, he hooked the curve of his cane around Elsa's neck and harshly tugged down, sending wave after wave of pain to course through Elsa's wrists.

"And who... are _YOU_? What relation do you have with the girl?" His breath was foul and Elsa crinkled her nose to dissipate the stench. With all her strength, Elsa tensed her muscles and loomed over the old man, stoking a sense of queenliness and protectiveness in the blonde. She looked down at him.

"Elsa, Anna's protector. I worked under the doctor and I was taken upon by him to be Anna's guardian, so anything you do to her, I swear I will do to you seven times more painful," Elsa replied with just as much venom.

The old man eyed her for a few moments before unlatching his cane around her and turning his back to Elsa. He chuckled, "Well it looks like your proposal has no effect as long as those chains are around your wrists, hm? No matter. You will tell me what I want to know and then we will do as I please, of course with the exception that you calmly stand by as we take out your… _protectee's_ heart and use it for better use." At that last statement, he turned back around and flaunted a smug grin, his dirty mustache lifting in approval. Shocked and enraged, but mostly enraged, Elsa shot out at him, flinging her body to connect with his in any way that could inflict damage but only resulted in contacting air and swung back to her hanging position, helpless and weak. The old man laughed at her exploit.

"Don't even bother. Before you even get enough strength to break free, your friend will be dead, on a table, without a heart." He clacked away, signaling his sons to follow him. Breathe ragged and eyes burning with wrath, Elsa retorted back, "What do you plan to do.."

A pause. Then a maniacal laughter.

"I'm going to put her heart into me."

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**Elsa baby nooooo. Frickin Word was telling me that "mustache" was spelled MOUSTACHE and fanfiction is telling me that "moustache" is spelled MUSTACHE. ugh. Well anyway, you guys are the best. Every follow and favorite just makes my day :) I think every fanfic requires at least _one_ meme from the movie. Till next chapter you dorks!**


	5. The Mission

**Thanks for waiting guys :/ I got serious writers block right after break so I had to take a few days off to recoup. But I finally got my crap together and present you guys with my longest chappy yet! Enjoy!**

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Elsa only became infuriated twice in her life.

She was taught by her father that although being angry was part of being human, it was not recommended as even a source of consideration when ruling a kingdom.

"_Never make a decision when you're angry, and never make a promise when you're happy," _her father would always say to her. So throughout the years of being raised as the future heir of Arendelle, Elsa learned to reign in her anger and negative feelings, thus developing into a regal, stoic, young woman.

But the first time someone pushed her berserk button was when the castle landscaper was mistreating his apprentice for forgetting to order the flowers for the pathway.

A calm, Sunday afternoon stroll through the gardens turned into a heated quarrel that would most likely have turned into a fist fight if not one of Elsa's escorts hadn't heard her barks of reproach and the gardener's retaliation of insults. Luckily, the escort arrived in time to see Elsa marching towards the man in what looked like a riled advance and separated them before any causalities could be reported.

The landscaper was fired and his apprentice was tended to but Elsa was given a new perspective on what could have happened if the guard wasn't there. She apologized to her father for letting her emotions get the best of her -and with constant berating from said person- she also apologized to the ex-gardener, who in turn spat at the ground she was standing on, spurring Elsa's limits.

The second time was when a sick, diabolical old man had the audacity to tell Elsa his plan to intentionally kill a person in order to obtain something he needs. But given the circumstances, Elsa doesn't think she'll be able to hold back like her father told her to.

_Screw the gardener, he was just an uneducated prick that didn't know the basic morals of treating underlings. A minor penalize would have been appropriate according to his behavior. This… _weasel,_ however, needs to have his head caved into a stone wall._

And here she was, trainings and regulations regarding the art of placidity all erased from her ethical handbook as Elsa hung from her restraints, praying to the gods that an exception could be made for this situation.

As she sent dagger after dagger from her gaze, the old man let out a chuckle and trudged back to her, a smirk dumped on his wrinkly face.

"I couldn't just let you _hang _like that without letting you in on my plan now, can I? The look on your face just kills me, I HAVE to tell you." Elsa curled her lip in disgust, but she couldn't deny it. _I do at least want to know his intentions._

He walked nonchalantly around her, acting as if he was born to expose his evil plans to people. "My name is Duke Weselton, former mechanic under Agdar Christian. I was actually one of few people he chose to work on the heart with him, but alas, since time had not favored him, it hadn't favored me. Being the senior of the group, you're expected to sign off and live the rest of your life waiting for your time to end. I would not fulfill such expectations… I was determined to stay on the list, show all the juveniles that age doesn't matter! All the criticism, jokes, tormenting! I was completely getting sick over them, but when I found out that Agdar was composing an artificial heart that could be sustainable to the body, my determination was ignited even more. I would take the heart once we finished operations, but Agdar planned on placing it in his hopeless daughter! The fool! That girl doesn't need it! Not as much as I did.

"Once on the list, I would work with the doctor and then steal the heart, placing it in _my_ body. Then I'd show them that they were wrong! I'm not a senile, old man or a 'has been' or an old bag!" Duke stopped pacing, bending over to catch his breath, hand shaking on his cane. He snapped up after a while, hand clasped behind his back, eyes stern.

"But that idiot of a doctor asked me to have a leave of absence. Said he was, 'worried about my health.'" He spat on the ground, "He took my lab card, tools, and everything. Kicked me out bidding a safe farewell and sent me on my way. From then on, I decided that the heart will be _mine_ and that no one can stop me. So I waited a few years, let the foolish doctor have his short-lived fun, and when he finally finished, I sent my sons to go retrieve the heart, no survivors needed. But Agdar was smarter than I thought, even thought to put up a whole security system that bastard… But I wish I was there to see the look on his face when he finally died in the fire my sons caused."

Elsa flashed her eyes to Anna, who had stayed silent the whole time. She was quivering with a mixture of fear and utter shock. Elsa could only imagine what she was feeling right now.

"They lost their arms in the process by Agdar mutilating them on his way out of the lab, but no matter. My will is absolute once I set my mind to it, that's what Agdar failed to remember about me. I fixed them robotic substitutes and then established a machine to block the winter weather around his lab so my work in finding a way in would be easier and simple."

Elsa took a quick intake of breath, _so it was because of him that there was no storm around the circumference of the lab._

"The security was tough, I'll give the dumb doctor that, but now my sons had found a way to get in thanks to you." He smiled at Elsa and briskly tapped his cane on her head then started clacking away.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have machines to tend to for our operation later. I'll spare you the apprehension and leave you two alone until the last minutes of the girl's life." And with that, Duke trampled off with his sons, with a new resounding victory in his footsteps.

Once they were gone, Elsa heard a sob coming from her right and she could only guess who it was from. Anna was lying on the ground, legs curled into her stomach and hands clutched to her chest. Elsa couldn't see her face but the ragged breathing and the short spasms of sobs made it clear that she was terrified.

"Anna…"

"I'm going to die, aren't I…?" A hiccup.

"No.. no, we're going to get out of this, _you're _ going to get out of this. I promised remember? And I always keep my promises."

Anna slowly got up from the floor and turned to Elsa, not fully but just enough that Elsa could see her tear stained face.

"How?! How are you going to get out of your chains? And how are you going to fight those… those monsters without weapons?"

"Anna, you'll just have to be patient with-"

"There's no more time for that! This… I can't escape from this… There's nothing I can do and once they come back, you can't stop them from hurting me…"

"Anna." Elsa said firmly. Anna looked up at Elsa and saw the same icy blue gaze she had seen when Elsa reassured Anna after her beating. All retorts from the redhead's mouth quickly bottled itself up and Anna listened warily.

"I swear on my life that nothing will happen to you. Even if I die trying, I will get you out."

The feeling Anna felt before came back tenfold, the same dumbstruck, confused emotion when Elsa had put her needs after Anna's. And just like before, Anna resumed to crying.

Elsa, having absolutely no idea the conflict the redhead was going through, was shocked to see her break down again and immediately regretted not coming up with a more comforting answer. Elsa shifted her weight –or at least attempted due to barely touching the ground with her toes- and looked away, trying to come up with an apology or _something_ to ease Anna's crying.

"Look Anna I-"

"Why?" A sniff.

"Uh. I-I'm sorry, wha-"

"Why are you willing to put yourself before me when you don't even _know _me?"

Elsa didn't expect that question. Brows knitted together, she stared at Anna who resumed to stare back, albeit tears running down her face.

The blonde sighed and looked down. After a couple of seconds and a few more sniffles from the redhead, Elsa looked up with a smile that Anna had settled to be her signature smile.

"Because… because there's something about you that makes me want to… protect you. From anything. I don't know what, but I don't need a reason to spur my decision to keep you safe from any type of harm. I'm sorry… I'm not really good at expressing my emotions…" Elsa bit her lip hesitantly, forcing herself to not look away from Anna.

The latter proceeded to offer a small laugh and wiped her tears on Elsa's jacket that had resumed its spot on Anna's shoulders. "I understand. And I trust you that you'll find a way out of this. Just don't lag on me okay?" Anna smiled at Elsa and the blonde smiled back.

"Just, if we do get out of this, I want you to find out that "something about me", okay? I'm kind of curious as to what it is."

Elsa chuckled softly, "Of course."

* * *

Duke and his sons eventually came back, unfortunately and much to Anna's dismay. Duke went over to Elsa and glared up at her.

"Now, tell me. Did Agdar leave a journal about his observations of the heart?"

"Yes, but you'll never get it," Elsa sneered back. A smack resounded over the room and Gunther, Holger, and Anna looked to the source. Elsa's head was bent low, a trail of blood coming from the side of her mouth. Anna crawled to the wire barrier facing Elsa and yelled for her, hands shaking at the fence inefficiently.

Duke was shaking his metal cane at Elsa "Don't test me woman! Now _tell _me, where is his journal?" The latter resumed to breathing hard as she tried to will away the pain forming on her cheek.

"It's… it's burned. Agdar made sure to destroy it before you swine were able to obtain it." Another smack, this time on her legs. Elsa gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut to abstain from yelling in pain.

"Useless girl. I feel like the rest of your information will serve no purpose for me, so I'll have to resume to taking the heart out of your little friend." He snapped to his sons and they made their way to Anna's cage.

Seeing that she was running out of time, Elsa's mind ran with any conceivable plan and went with it.

"Wait! You don't know what you're doing!"

Gunther and Holger were looming over Anna's cage but stopped when they heard Elsa's outburst. Duke turned around and annoyingly glowered at Elsa.

"You can't take the heart out-"

"Unfortunately for you, at this point I have no interest in your continuous banter over what I can and cannot do."

"-because Dr. Christian put an automated self-destruct system in case anyone tried to take the heart out of Anna."

A grave silence engulfed the room. Holger and Gunther looked at each other troublingly while Duke scowled, cane tapping in exasperation. Elsa continued.

"I know for a fact that if you even try tampering with her heart, its mechanized input is to increase its arc energy from its apex chamber and diffuse, disrupting the potential of the wires and triggering the self-destruct procedure. The heart and the body will be no more as well as anything within a five mile radius. The power of the destruction has enough gigawatts to create damage enough to wipe out everything in its path with electromagnetic energy. And if you do happen to survive the blast, there won't be enough time for you to escape the radiation flooding in the area right after the detonation. But you know," Elsa nonchalantly nodded her head knowingly, "my information serves no purpose."

Elsa thanked the gods for giving her the mind power to spontaneously bluff her way out of risky situations.

Evidently enough, she heard the gasps of horror coming from the brothers and the angry shush directed to them from their father.

"W-what are we going to do Pa?"

"We'll die…"

"I don't want to be obliterated!"

"… even before we get the heart out…"

"Shut up you two!" yelled the old man. He walked over to his sons to shush them. Meanwhile, Elsa looked at Anna to check on her and saw the look of horror in her eyes. Elsa indifferently shook her head and mouthed, "No." Anna let out a breath of relief and nodded back.

After the tantrum from the brothers was dimmed down to quiet whimpers, Duke marched to Elsa and hooked his cane around her neck again and pulled her down.

"And how do I know that you're not lying?"

Suddenly a loud beeping noise was ringing from the older Weasel Brother. Heads turned to Gunther as he frantically tried to find the noise on him. He lifted his foot and a circular pin was flashing red on the side of his boot. Gunther tried clawing at it but to no avail.

_It's about time. _Elsa grinned down at the old man, "Because you won't be alive long enough to realize that I am." Duke furrowed his ashy brows together in confusion before a loud crash came from the entrance. There standing in all his glory was the man with the ridiculous sideburns. If Elsa wasn't happy to see Hans before, she was definitely happy to see him now. His face was scratched and parts of his uniform was dirtied and torn but his reputable smirk was the only thing not phased as he raised his phaser rifle.

"Sorry I'm late ladies. Have you seen the weather outside? It's_ horrible._" He resumed to shooting at Gunther, who raised his arms for protection and in turn was thrown backwards, hitting his head on the hard cement. With a cry for his fallen brother, Holger took out his pistol and shot back at Hans, a battle sprouting from the two.

Elsa saw her chance and lifted her legs to kick Duke away from her, who in turn was distracted by the commotion, resulting in a shout of pain from the old man and a demanding struggle to get back up. Elsa willed all her strength and wrapped the chains around her hands once before using her back and arm muscles to lift her body and legs up so that they were up in the air. She planted her feet on the beam above her and pushed, fighting to loosen the chains from the beam.

After a few seconds, the chains broke free and Elsa landed on her back, free from her restraints. Pushing back the pain, she shouted to Hans and he threw her her rifle that was strapped around him. She caught it with ease and ran to Anna.

"See, I told you I'd get you out of this," Elsa stated as she blasted an opening in the cage for Anna to escape through. She held out her hand and Anna shakily stepped out. Once standing, she hugged Elsa, "Thank you. I never should have doubted you…"

Elsa hugged back with the arm that wasn't holding the rifle, "Now come on, let's get out of here." A deathly howl came from Holger and Elsa saw the younger brother fall down to the ground, electricity flowing through his body. Hans had gotten the crossbow from Gunther's body and shot it at Holger, hitting his mechanized appendage. Hans tossed the weapon aside and swung his rifle around his shoulder. Elsa nudged Anna forward by the small of her back. She was about to move forward herself when she felt a stinging pain shoot through her back and a heavy blow against her head. She fell forward and cried in pain, catching Anna and Hans' attention. Hans ran to Elsa and quickly pulled out the weapon -much to Elsa's discomfort- and tore off a piece of his coat to bandage her wound. Meanwhile, Anna yelped for Elsa and knelt before her, lifting the blonde's head to cradle it on her lap.

Duke had regained from his fall and had thrown a scalpel at Elsa's back before hitting her over the head with his cane. He was sauntering towards the group, scalpel ready in his bony hands, "You may have killed my sons but as long as I'm alive, that heart will be mine! She doesn't deserve it! I should be the one to have it! After all my hard work, I should-"

The old man's mouth hung in mid-sentence and his hand loosened its grip on the scalpel, causing it to clatter to the floor. His hands shot to his chest and his face scrunched into a pained expression and like the scalpel, he too fell to the floor with a dense thud.

After a few minutes of disbelief, Hans got up from his position and walked cautiously to the old man. He placed a finger on his wrist before standing up, lips pursed.

"No pulse.. He had a heart attack."

Elsa groaned and slowly raised her body so that she was sitting up and looked back at the man, "I guess hisheart opposed to his want." She groaned and hugged her mid-section.

"E-Elsa…"

"At least it was just a small weapon. The old man had the bright idea to sterilize it so no infection should appear. The bleeding has been blocked for now so that means we should make haste to the scout ship," stated Hans.

Elsa stood up and then helped Anna, "Agreed." She looked at Anna and smiled, "Let's go home."

* * *

The trek to the ship was just as difficult as the journey from the lab, but this time, Anna was sandwiched between Hans and Elsa so as to not be blown away as easily as before. With Hans' amazing sense of direction (It's a man's connection with his ship) (Hans, it's not even _yours_), they finally found their vessel and strapped inside.

"We should inform Kristoff that we're heading back." Elsa nodded in agreement and intercom-ed her captain. As soon as his face appeared on the screen, his expression contorted to disbelief.

"_Your Highness- whoa Elsa… What happened?"_

Elsa sighed, "I'll explain once we dock in, Hans and I were able to get Anna so prepare a med group on the portway floor."

"_Of course. We'll be awaiting your arrival, Your Majesty. Safe travels."_ After signing off, Elsa started the engines and took off. Hans was in the back seated beside Anna, who was currently gawking at the structure and unfamiliarity of the ship.

"Never been in a scout ship before?" asked Hans. Anna shook her head and wrapped Elsa's coat around her tighter.

"Because of my heart condition, I was usually bed ridden so I only had views of them from my hospital window. Any other pictures of spaceships were from books or comms so I've never actually been _in_ one. Its… amazing…"

Elsa overheard Anna's remark and looked around the ship herself. Titanium walls and flooring, nothing spectacular caught Elsa's eye besides the redhead boldly sticking out of the scenery. Even though Anna was wearing an honorary Arendelle coat, she still looked out of place: wide eyes scoring over every inch of the craft and mouth appealing to her current admiration. It was like Anna was the embodiment of the past stuck in the future, with no intention in turning back.

_That's right, now that she's in our possession, I should think about Arendelle's future…_ They had only just met and Elsa felt like she was attached to the girl. The thought of extracting the energy from Anna's heart made Elsa physically shiver. The ship rapidly jerked to the side.

"Whoa Elsa, get a good grip on the yoke will you?" Hans called from the back. Elsa looked at her hands placed on the handle; she swore she didn't cause that, _I didn't shiver _that _much._

The ship jerked again and this time Hans unbuckled his belt and went to Elsa in the cock pit, mind bent on teaching her how to properly hold a yoke. As soon as he was beside her, mouth open to lecture, Elsa exclaimed in horror, "Our fuel gauge is reading low!"

Hans shut his mouth and inspected the meter. It indeed read low but… how?

Elsa gritted her teeth and strained to keep the ship stable, "Those Weasel brothers must have tampered with our fuel tank when we were in the lab… Those bastards.. And with the weather like this-" She intercom-ed Kristoff again.

"_Signal not found,"_ came the automated voice. Elsa growled and inputted a voice message instead. His voice was barely recognizable through the stream.

"_Elsa? What's wrong, why aren't you usin-"_

"Kristoff, our fuel tank has been drained, we need you to tow us up."

"_I would but- *scratch scratch* Hey! Ola- *scratch* Hello? Hello Elsa!"_ A new voice joined into Kristoff's feed.

"Olaf? Tell Kristoff he needs to inform the deck crew to pull us in!"

"_We can't! Winds have sped to 63 miles per hour! If we open the hatchway enough just to haul in your ship, the disturbance of the winds in the docking station will end with consequences, it's too risky!"_

It took a moment for Elsa to take in the information. She looked back at Anna and the panic in her eyes was too much, they couldn't stay here any longer. Elsa then had an idea.

"Can you open the portway floor enough to let people in?"

"_What?"_ It was Kristoff's voice, "_I-I guess.. It'd be less strenuous for the crew so yes, what… are you planning..?"_

"There should be ascenders in the survival packs in the ship. We'll use those to climb up the cable and up until we're close to the hatchway, then you can open it just a little so we can climb in. We can't stay here any longer, Anna is going to freeze."

There was silence on the other end and Elsa gravely thought they had lost connection, until Kristoff's voice was heard.

"_It… It's possible. Knowing you, you'll stop at nothing to complete a mission. We'll be ready for you at the portway floor as well as the medic team. Good luck Elsa and.. be safe, please." _And with that, the captain ended the connection and the vessel hushed to silence, save for the pounding of the winds. Elsa sighed deeply before slowly letting go of the yoke. The ship resulted in jerking only slightly, so Elsa made her way to the back, where Anna was still sitting.

She sat beside her and looked her in the eyes, "Anna… we're going to have to-"

"I know," a small smile, "I heard you talking."

Elsa pursed her lips and continued, "Well what we're about to do is going to be dangerous, especially for an untrained person like you. You can go with Hans and I'll trail below-"

"A-actually, can I go with you…?" Anna's head was bowed and she was tapping her fingers together, clearly embarrassed by the request. Elsa was dumbfounded, "You-you want to go with me? You do know that Hans is stronger than me, n-not that I'm trying to imply anything but I suspect that you'll feel comfortable with… him.." _What is wrong with me? It's not queenly to stutter Elsa._

Anna looked up at the blonde, "I honestly feel more comfortable with you-I mean," gestures to Hans, "Not that I have anything against his sideburns-"

"Hey!"

"-but I honestly and genuinely want to go with you." Anna was giving Elsa a look that she couldn't describe, but she did know that it was causing a blush to blossom on Elsa's face and she tried _immensely_ to mask it, only to result in stuttering even more.

"I-if that's what you… want.." _Goddamn it Elsa._

Anna giggled in her seat and put her hands on Elsa's, causing the queen to jump slightly in her seat. She lifted her eyes and saw that Anna was tenderly smiling at her.

Wanting to not publicly humiliate herself again, Elsa abruptly stood up and headed to the survival packs hanging on the wall. She unhooked them from their places and opened them, taking out rope ascenders from each of them.

"These have a 300 pounds per square inch clasp and will keep us from being blown away with the winds," she handed one to Hans, "and the journey up should only take about two minutes." Elsa started tying the necessary knots and braces around herself then to the rope ascender. Afterwards, she walked to Anna and started tying a sort of rope handcuff around her wrists. Receiving a quizzical look from Anna, Elsa felt she had to explain.

"My tether to the ascender will be secure and I need to make sure that you'll be the same to me, so I need your body as close to mine as possible so that there won't be any hindrance in the aerodynamics." Elsa missed Anna's blush to Elsa's statement but proceeded to clear her throat and nod. Elsa continued.

"With one arm wrapped around my neck and the other under my arm, there won't be any problems. I'm going to need you to hook your legs around my waist also," Elsa then began buttoning her coat on Anna, took a thermal mask from the pack and placed it over Anna's head.

"What about you?" the redhead asked before any other speech was muffled by the thick cloth.

"I have my head gear in place, don't worry," she patted Anna's head once the mask was slipped on and snug. Hans walked over to Elsa's side, professionalism spread across his face.

"Are you happy that your Boy Scout knot training was actually put to use?"

"First of all, it was a conference for aeronaut engineering and second, yes. Yes I am." Hans lifted his mask over his nose pretentiously and snapped his goggles on, followed by a small "ow". Elsa turned back to Anna and saw the question in her eyes.

"He's the youngest out of twelve brothers and original skills were becoming scarce so Hans had to make up for it by conforming to knot tying. Gods know how he fared against terrorists in Agrabah-"

Hans was going to open his mouth to retort but Elsa beat him to it, "-But. Before we start getting off into different topics we have a situation at hand that needs to be done. Let's get this over with." She got on her knees, pushing away the pain that was coming from her wound, and motioned Anna to come over.

She helped her adjust to the appropriate position and then gestured to put her legs up. When Anna did so, Elsa hoisted herself and Anna up, a small squeak coming from the redhead on her back.

"See, it's like a piggyback ride, you just need to hold on real tight." She put on her mask and nodded to Hans before grabbing her pack and the ascenders. She put in the code for the door and braced for the unknown.

Olaf wasn't kidding.

Elsa had to grip the handles hear the door to stabilize herself against the beating winds. They were stronger than when they had descended and Elsa didn't think they could become more violent. The whole scene was white yet chaotic, snow blowing this way and that, and the chaotic air threatening to pull them out. Hans placed a hand on Elsa's shoulder before deftly grabbing the rungs on the body of the ship and climbing upwards. Elsa tilted her head back to check on Anna, who was pressing her face against Elsa's shoulder to block the cold. Elsa pursed her lips and stuck her hand outside, looking for the rungs.

Finally her fingers found what she wanted and then stuck her foot out into the open with half of her body in the ship securely holding the handles. Her foot struck a metal a bar and she hooked her sock-clad foot around it. With deep breaths and heart racing she pulled all her and Anna's weight onto the rungs. The climb wasn't far but the pain in her side stung every time she lifted her leg.

On top, Hans was holding onto the tethered cable and stuck out a hand for Elsa. The blonde quickly took it and Hans pulled her towards the cable. The admiral hooked his ascender to the cable, gave Elsa a nod, and then flew into the air.

Elsa hooked her ascender afterwards and shouted above the noise, "Anna! We're going to be rising in the air now! I need you to hang on as tight as you can!" Elsa got her response from the tight squeeze around her waist. She covered her mouth again, steadied herself away from the cable, then pressed the button.

The two shot into the air and rode the cable. Elsa could feel Anna losing her grip as they climbed, _almost there Anna. Just hang on._

Elsa forgot that Anna had her legs wrapped around her mid-section so for every squeeze from Anna to ensure her hold, the more her wound throbbed and the more Elsa could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness. She could see the portway door open for them in the distance and when they finally made it close to the proximity, she could see the crewmen and medical team with their hands out, ready to grab Elsa.

She closed her eyes and willed any of her strength left to complete the trek. There was a moment in time when there were no whistling winds whatsoever and no cold snow chilling her to the bone. Just bright lights everywhere.

They made it.

When she finally felt warm hands grab her arm and torso, she allowed the darkness and fatigue take over. She felt the weight on her back lift and she stumbled from being unbalanced, falling to the floor with a dense _thud._ When the crewmen didn't see their Queen get up from her fall, they rushed to her.

"Your Majesty!"

_Kristoff… tone your voice down…_

"She was stabbed! We need to treat her now!"

_Hans?_

"Elsa! Elsa, no stay with me!"

_Anna… don't worry… about.._

And the Queen slipped into the welcoming embrace of darkness.

* * *

**I took the ascenders idea from Tomb Raider because I thought those things were so cool. Elsa just keeps getting one problem after another :( but no matter, next chapter will be more light hearted! Thanks for the follows guys and the favorites, you guys are awesome :D If you have any questions or concerns, PM me. Or if you just have a comment about the story so far, just drop me a review. Til next chapter!**


	6. My Little Girl

**Merry Christmas! Or Happy Hanukkah! Hope you guys are having a great Christmas/Hanukkah, wanted to put this out before Christmas so you guys aren't just stuck with the cliffhanger in the previous chapter. Enjoi**

* * *

"_Daddy! Daddy!" Anna burst through the doors of their living room, face caked with dirt and her hands cupped in a small ball. Agdar excused himself from the guests and knelt down for his little girl._

"_Anna, what happened? You know you shouldn't be running around too much-"_

"_Daddy, I tried! I tried to save it- there was a… a big bird and it attacked and I saw it fall from the sky and I- I tried daddy.." Tears shimmered in her eyes and her mouth quivered along with her body._

_Agdar scanned her face and quickly put his fingers on her pulse. When he felt that her pulse didn't spike too high, he sighed in relief and put his hand on her shoulder._

"_Anna, take deep breaths." His daughter did as she was told, shakily breathing out on the first try but on the third, succeeded in calming down._

"_Good, now tell me slowly what happened." As Anna resumed to take more breaths, Agdar moved his thumb over Anna's face and wiped away the dirt._

"_I.. I was sitting outside, getting my daily dose of sunshine like you told me to-"_

_The inventor smiled at that._

"_-and I heard a screech from the sky and when I looked up, I saw a big bird attack this little bird and the little bird was falling from the sky! So I ran from my spot- I kinda tripped- and I tried to catch the poor bird. So I stuck out my arms like-" Anna shot out her arms in front of her, hands still cupped._

"_-and the bird landed in my arms. It was sad daddy.. I tried soothing it, I sang a little song too, but it was breathing too much and I.."_

_Agdar waited for his daughter to finish but the redhead looked down, a sniff resounding from her nose. He squeezed her shoulder gently, "It's okay Anna. You didn't know what to do."_

"_But-but if I had just ran to you and not fix it myself, maybe it would have lived.." She uncupped her hands and there lay the slain bird. Her father pursed his lips and gently lifted it out of her hands, pulled a handkerchief from his coat, and wrapped it around the bird. Once he finished, he put it aside and looked back at Anna._

"_Anna, don't blame yourself. There was nothing you or I could have done.." The girl still continued to sniffle and refused to lift her head so, Agdar pulled her into a hug instead._

"_Hey, you have a good heart dear, the fact that you wanted to help the bird counts itself. At least it knows that you tried to help it." He gently pulled her away to look at her and smiled tenderly._

"_Okay?" Her father inquired with the softness of his voice. Anna sniffled, wiped her face on her father's shoulder, and nodded._

"_Good girl," Agdar laughed out, ruffling Anna's hair and getting a giggle in response. He pulled her back into a hug, "Oh Anna, you are too selfless for this cruel world. I just don't want the world to change you."_

_Anna closed her eyes in bliss as her father stroked her hair, all her fears and worries fading away by the rhythmic beating of her father's heart._

* * *

"_Anna…"_

The redhead felt her shoulder shake but willed away the distraction. Anna waved her hand blindly in the air.

"Just.. put it off till tomorrow.. I've been up for hours.." She resumed to her snoring state until a more harsher nudge hit her shoulder.

"Anna," she heard a voice firmly say. She grumbled and lifted her head from-

_A bed?_

It took Anna a while to comprehend that it was indeed a bed but she was not necessarily lying _in _it, confusing her even more. Her thoughts were interrupted by a throbbing pain in her lower back, so she stretched back and slumped back in her seat, blinking her eyes to focus on reality.

Now that she was partially awake, she remembered that she was sitting on a chair, beside the bed. And because she was partially awake, she also realized that there was a face currently looking at her. She peered curiously with squinted eyes until revelation.

_Is that?_

"Elsa!" The disclosure hit Anna like a thousand bricks. She shot up from her chair and swung her arms around the blonde's neck.

She remembers now.

After Elsa fainted, they had taken her to the _North Mountain's _medical area, with Anna insisting on staying by her side. In the time of arguing, she got to know that the person she was bickering with was named Kristoff Bjorgman and that he was a very, very persistent man. But no matter, the redhead had found a way to sneak pass him and into Elsa's room, where she vowed she would stay until Elsa awoke.

"Ow, Anna, I'm glad to see you too but my side is still throbbing." Anna's smiled faltered and she shot back into her seat, sputtering apologies to the blonde.

"I'm sorry! Sorry. I was just so excited that you're okay, and you're awake and well, and oh gosh, I was so worried that you fainted because I was so heavy but the physician said that it was just exhaustion and the injury in your side, so I was like whew! But I was still worried because you've been through all of that because of me, and if I hadn't panicked at first-"

"Anna." Elsa placed a hand on her shoulder and lightly shook her, "It's okay. What matters is that we're here in one piece and that you're safe. Stop blaming yourself."

Anna lowered her head and mumbled, "Okay.. I _am_ glad that you're awake now though," the redhead meekly said. Elsa smiled sweetly at Annabut wavered when she saw the redhead slump forward.

"My back is killing me.." Anna managed to say amidst the groaning.

Without even giving a second thought to remember how much she likes her space, Elsa scooted to the side and patted the space beside her, "Why don't you lie down?" _Wait. What._

"Wait, what?" Anna succeeded to say for her. Her eyes were darting between the space and the person next to it and she noticed that Elsa was fidgeting with her hands.

Elsa sighed inwardly, _Well, I already offered._ She proceeded to pat the space, "You've been staying with me for what? Three hours? And all you've been doing was sit on that stiff chair. The least I can do for you is offer you to lie down and relax."

"A-are you sure? I mean the bed is kind of small so I'm not sure how I'd properly fit.. Not that I'm saying you're fat or something! Of course not! You're actually slim and petite and perfect and- wait, wait, not perfect. But I mean like, you are! WAIT- um like body type wise, but yeah. I-I don't want to force you to be uncomfortable-"

"Anna, just come here."

"Okay."

Anna hesitantly stood up from the chair and crawled onto the unoccupied part of the bed. Once laying, Anna let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "This is great. I mean! For my back… thing.."

Elsa chuckled until she noticed a problem. The bed was indeed too small so her right shoulder was right behind Anna's left, making the blonde feel uncomfortable and prohibiting proper movement. If she pulled it forward, then Anna's shoulder would be squished. And she desperately needed to stretch her arm.

_Ah crap. _

After thinking whether she should act upon it or not, the distressed blonde let out a puff of air from her nose and bowed her head to Anna.

"Sorry, I just need to.." She gently lifted her arm behind Anna and draped it over her shoulder, at first bringing confusion to Anna until realization. Both girls were blushing profusely and abstained from saying anything. Elsa's alarm was going off in her head whilst Anna had no idea that Elsa just needed to free her arm. But the new position was way more comfortable for the embarrassed redhead so she absentmindedly snuggled under the crook of Elsa's arm.

Said blonde's arm was ridiculously stiff on Anna's shoulders with her wrist bent upwards, refusing to rest on Anna's arm, but once the girl cuddled closer to her, she damned all her anxieties and let her arm rest securely around Anna.

They were both silently enjoying their platonic cuddle, with Elsa experiencing a new sense of coziness with the young woman and Anna developing an additional feeling of security. Neither said anything to each other but both felt that this moment wasn't meant to be interrupted by idle talking.

Until now.

Through the door burst Elsa's captain, all logic of privacy gone by his rash behavior. His mop of hair messy underneath his lopsided captain hat and his face pink from exertion.

"Elsa! Your monitor! It notified- oh." The scene in front of Kristoff caused him to come to his senses and immediately regret intruding on such a precious moment for his Queen.

The Queen, on the other hand was twice as surprised as her intruder. Upon grasping who had rudely erupted through the door, Elsa instantly stiffened once more, eyes wide with shock. Anna, in contrast, gently lifted her head from Elsa's shoulder and regarded who had come in, completely unfazed.

"I'm sorry." The burly captain bowed his head in remorse and gently moved back outside for the door to slide shut. Stuttering, Elsa rapidly took her arm off Anna and bolted out of her bed, running after the blonde to clarify an explanation, leaving Anna stunned on the bed.

Elsa was about to run out of the room when she suddenly ran back to her bedside. She took her tablet from the table, unlocked it, and gave it to Anna.

"You're father sent me this prior to your awakening."

"What- what is it?"

"It's a video message. My last request from him is to pass this message to you. You should probably watch it right now. I need to go… make things clear with my captain and see where we are at the moment. I'll return for you right after, okay?"

Anna stared at the glowing screen before, artificial heart pounding from the anxiousness of hearing her father speak again. After a few moments, she absentmindedly sniffed and looked up at the blonde.

"Okay," was all she could say. Elsa nodded her head and made for the automated door. Standing between the room and the hallway, Elsa gave Anna an apologetic smile and quickly said something that was in the form of an, "I'll be back."

And with that, the Queen swooped out of the room, with Anna nestling over Elsa's warmth on the bed, finger hovering over the intercom window.

She stared blankly at the tablet screen and wondered if it was worth hearing her father say something, anything, to her after all that has happened.

_Of course it is Anna. He would want you to._

And so the dainty, trembling finger suspended over her father's last message to her came down with a silent tap.

The tired doctor appeared before her, attempting to smile despite the sadness in his olive eyes.

Her father. The one who would give everything in the world for her. Though, she was fairly close to her mother as well but the relationship the father and daughter had with each other rivaled many others. A mystical bond formed between them, transcending the means of paternalistic values.

Anna knew the consequences from receiving an artificial heart: induced coma, years of her life spent succumbed in that coma, slight memory loss. But she would never imagine something like treason to be one of the fallouts from her decision to live a better life.

And she certainly didn't expect her parents to die.

_What were my last words to them? Did we get in a fight before? Oh, I would hope not… Were they holding my hands when I went to sleep?_

Anna could no longer remember anything that happened prior to her operation, and that was another reason why she needed to see this message.

Her father opened his mouth, then refrained and just emitted a sad laugh instead. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, head bowed. Finally after a few moments, he looked up, the color of his eyes murky under unshed tears.

"_Anna. My sweet, sweet, Anna. I want you to know first that your mother and I love you… Forever and always. You were the sun in our lives when the days seemed gray and though you may not think it, you have made us better parents, better PEOPLE. We couldn't have asked for a better child and… I'm sorry it had to come to this."_ Agdar's voice had broken towards the end.

"_As your parents- our duty is to protect you and give you the best chance at life that you might need. This is one of them."_ He took a deep breath and shakily let it out.

"_Something has happened in the manor and your mother and I need to take care of it if it means your safety is in jeopardy. We might um.. not make it. Because things are dire and.._" A pause and a forlorn look casted downwards, "_You're worth protecting, even if it means we won't be on the other side with you."_

"_By the time you get this, you will be a beautiful, mature young lady; mind intent on learning more about the world and your visions of reality will be altered. You will see the world for what it truly is and your beliefs will shape your future. Please do not think bitterly upon it, the world is a spectacular place and I would hope that you will be exposed to its benefits. _

"_You will be under the care of King Anders now, and I trust this man will take you in as a second daughter. They have a child, a girl as well, so I'm hoping that you two might become best friends, maybe even as close as sisters, you know? Nonetheless, I love you Anna. Keep living, for us, and I'm sure that you'll be alright in the end. I need to go take care of things now; send another message to King Anders. This is not a goodbye Anna, just a simple parting with a promise that we will see each other again, okay?"_

Agdar mumbled under his breath, "_I can't get enough of saying it but, I love you Anna, WE love you. And take care… my little girl."_ A smile to the screen and a final bleep, signaling the end of the message. The room turned quiet again, aside from the quiet breathing of the girl on the bed and the hum of the ship. Anna felt something drip onto her hand and tasted salt in her mouth.

She looked down and her vision was obscured by her tears, perhaps the tears that her father dared not shed during his message. A sniff came from her nose and she quickly wiped her eyes with the underside of her hand, still trying to accept her father's dying wish.

_To live for them._

And all was broken.

Anna wept loudly for her parents who sacrificed themselves, for the servants that died in the fire, for herself. She clutched her chest, and if she didn't know any better, her artificial heart actually _hurt._ But it didn't matter; the deed was done and she was here, alone.

_Alive, _a hushing thought from the back of her mind breathed.

But Anna was still human.

_Right?_

And humans cried, humans had feelings, had memories, had…

_Dreams._

And Anna could no less imagine what her dream would be then to make her parents proud. And proud wouldn't even completely fathom what Anna will do. She will live up to their reputation, carry on the Christian family name, see the world for them through the eyes of the acquitted.

But she will make them _proud._

This whole thought didn't occur to Anna, of course, until after her crying. Because at the moment, nothing more was on her mind then the last hug she could remember with her parents.

* * *

"You know Elsa, if you wanted to make a move, you didn't have to fake being unconscious. I would've understood."

"Kristoff, for the last time, there wasn't anything behind that! My arm just needed a stretch. That. Is. It."

"That's what they always say Elsa."

Elsa rubbed her forehead for the umpteenth time during her explanation to Kristoff. They were sitting in the mess hall after Elsa chased down Kristoff. She enlightened that they would need to go somewhere quiet and discrete so they could talk about their current situation.

Her harsh massage session on her forehead was interrupted by the burly blonde captain.

"You know, she acted pretty stubborn about staying with you. I kept telling her no but when I saw her try to sneak pass me, I didn't even try to stop her because I knew it'd be hopeless to reason with her. She is so stubborn… and feisty."

Elsa ceased and sat back in the metal chair, eyes staring at the table leg. Elsa wasn't surprised that Anna had stayed by her bedside; she knew that the redhead would feel indebted to her after all that happened.

_So the mission was a complete success.._ _I mean despite losing two men…_

Elsa's eyes hardened when she remembered Hans' two men dying at the hands of the Weasel Brothers.

_A proper funeral will be held for them but for now, we need to focus on heading back to Arendelle._

The silence was interrupted by Kristoff's wrist communicator receiving a feedback.

"_Kristoff? Kristoff you there?"_

"Olaf? I'm here in the café."

"_Oh ok! You know, their hot chocolate is something else! Have you tried it? I've never thought of putting actual chocolate in the drink, and the tiny marshmallows they have-"_

"Olaf, back to subject," Kristoff chuckled, "Why did you call?"

"_Oh, yes. During our stagnant interval, snow has gotten into our maneuvering jets and into the power core chamber. And because we weren't moving or flying of some sort, the core hasn't been using enough energy to keep itself warm."_

Kristoff looked to Elsa, who had overheard their conversation and was currently looking at the communicator in disbelief. She picked up her chair and scooted closer to the captain, ears intent to listen more.

"How long until we don't have power?" Kristoff asked gravely. There was a pause on Olaf's end, the sound of beeps and clacks being the only source of noise. Finally Olaf responded back.

"_Five hours."_ Olaf's normal pubescent tone of voice took on a lower pitch, having had broken the news to the duo. Now it was Kristoff's turn to establish a lengthy pause, mouth gaped open in utter dread. Elsa's eyes were shifting, her brows scrunched together, and gears in her brain grinding.

"_What are we going to do?"_ Olaf asked.

Kristoff looked to his queen for answers. He knew that if someone could find a solution, it would be Elsa. He always trusted her to find answers to questions no one could answer, even if it meant that she had to make the answer herself. He knew her before she became the majestic queen she was now; a young princess and officer gallivanting across the kingdom in dual aeropods. _Those were the days_, Kristoff thought. But then the death happened and everything Elsa was before just completely leaked away. She took duties more seriously, and when the brawny blonde would want to revisit their childhood fun of racing across the skies, Elsa would intervene even before he got to finish his request with a justification of "I have duties to uphold Kristoff."

That was the end of his persistent requests. But years passed and Elsa had unwound from her usual stiff posture upon her desk and resumed to a more comfortable and casual state. Until the generator issue emerged. And Elsa was back to her queenly stupor, days upon days shut in her office as she vowed to find a solution.

But when he saw her with her arms "draped across Anna's shoulders because she was in need of a stretch", he knew then and there that his queen was beginning to unwind once more.

_Because of the Anna girl?_

Kristoff mentally shrugged his shoulders and pushed the thought aside, other matters more important at hand. Elsa at last brightened up, braid bobbing against her chest when she jumped up in fulfillment but quickly regretting it when a bolt of pain shot up her abdomen.

"Tiana! Tiana's Place!"

"Who?"

"_Is that Elsa?! Elsa! You're alive, oh thank goodness!"_

Elsa looked at Kristoff's watch, smile weaving across her face, "Yes, I'm alive Olaf. But I think I have an idea of where we can go."

She situated herself so that she was sitting right in front of Kristoff, body in front of his arm. She cleared her throat before speaking, "Tiana is an old friend of mine when we were little. Her dad catered at parties and he would bring along Tiana for a time for both of us to play. After her dad passed, she said that she would start building her own restaurant soon."

"Okay, a restaurant, how nice. But we aren't really in the hungry mood right now Elsa."

Elsa shushed him and continued, "Her husband happens to be a mechanic, so we can just head on over to her diner and he can fix our power core. Olaf can you check where they are now?"

"Wha-where they are? Are they mobile?"

On Olaf's feed, series of clacks and an audible "_Ohhh"_ was heard before responding back, "_Good news Elsa, if we take-off right now, we won't miss them."_

"What? So they're a moving restaurant? Like a sky cruiser?"

"_Get this Kristoff, they're in orbit."_

It took the captain a few seconds to process but when he finally did, he nearly fell off his seat.

"The restaurant is in _space?_" Kristoff said, voice raising an octave higher on the last word.

"Her husband bought a space rock that was subdued in the atmosphere, said it was a honeymoon present or something but I suspected that you guys would want to repair the ship as fast as possible, and they're only like what? An hour away? That gives us more than enough time to fix the core before the engines are killed. And while we're there, the whole crew can eat and relax and I get to see an old friend."

"I guess, Queen's orders. As always, _you_ know what's better." Kristoff rested his back against the chair, an exasperated sigh coming out his mouth. Elsa shot him a deadpanned look and Kristoff retaliated back with a chortle.

"Olaf, I want you back on the bridge with Kristoff," Elsa rose up from her chair, cringing a little at the pain in her side.

"And where are you going?" After a brief validation with Olaf, Kristoff switched his communicator off and stood up as well.

"I need to head back to Anna."

"Mhm."

"Kristoff."

Her captain shot his hands up, "Alright, alright. Whatever you say. I'll be sure to tell the rest of the crew that you'll need more time to rest, so no more interruptions."

Kristoff barely had time to jump out of the way by an oncoming punch by the ever so regal Queen.

* * *

Elsa was making her way back to the medical room, barely no more than a walk to the end of the corridor. She would get back to Anna and most likely need to comfort the girl because Elsa supposed that it was a really personal message from her father. She was over thinking about what she would do, but she would perform the necessary actions yet.

For Anna.

"Elsa? Elsa you're awake?"

The addressed blonde swerved around and saw her admiral, tattered uniform replaced with a sharper one. There was a bandage wrapped around his head and probably more wrapped around his ribs, but Hans still retained his professional image.

"It's good to know that you're okay. How's your wound?"

Elsa placed a hand gently on her side, "It's getting better. I just talked with Kristoff and Olaf and we're changing course. The ship's power core is damaged so we're heading to an old friend of mine's to repair it."

"So.. we're not heading to Arendelle yet?"

"Not yet, this is our main priority right now."

"And where is Anna?"

"She's in the med room. She needed rest as well so I offered my bed while I was out."

Hans quietly nodded. He looked around before leaning into Elsa, "And is our initial plan still a follow through?"

Elsa was taken aback, literally. She searched his face, trying to find any other context in that question, but she knew what he was talking about.

"I.. I'm not-"

"Elsa- _Your Majesty_. You may have experienced some things with the girl but… not trying to sound morbid, you still need her for the generator. Think about Arendelle's future."

Elsa let out a huff through her nose and changed her gaze to the side. Hans was right, as Queen she needed to put the needs of her kingdom first, not her own. She was still tired even after a day of running around, and her body just wanted to rest some more. Her mental will was done for the day.

Elsa stretched her neck and sighed, "Of course.. But how will she fare when she finds out… what she's here for?" There wasn't any other solution, so the plan had to persist.

"I've been thinking, you need to gain her trust right? And from what I've seen since the start of this mission, she seems to have a liking towards you."

Elsa didn't like the sound of this, but what else was there?

"Okay, and.."

"And, I think you should start getting closer to her as well. That way when we get back to Arendelle, you can tell her our situation and she'll more than likely feel pity and accept it. What are friends for right?"

"Right…" Elsa mimicked.

"And Arendelle wouldn't have to suffer in the cold anymore."

Elsa shook her head but no other options came to her head.

"Alright."

Hans smiled softly and placed a hand on her shoulder, "There's that Queen Arendelle needs. I'm sure she'll understand." And Hans walked down the hallway, before turning a corner.

Elsa sighed one more time and grudgingly entered her room, head hanging down from all the responsibilities she remembered she had. A sniff from the bed shot her back to reality.

Anna was still in her position on the bed, but her eyes were red and puffy, and her gown stained with tears. She looked up at Elsa and smiled weakly, a stray tear falling soundlessly off her face. Elsa walked briskly to Anna's side and did the one thing on her mind that she could think of.

Hug her.

Anna quietly gasped then buried her face into the blonde's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Elsa and cried some more, Elsa getting flashbacks from when she first met Anna in the lab.

A few quiet moments passed and when Elsa thought that Anna was in a better condition, she released her from the comfort embrace.

"How are you?" Elsa asked, voice filled with concern.

"I.. I'm fine. Not really. But I'll be better, don't worry. Just, got to hear my dad again." Anna wiped her eyes again and shrugged. Elsa pursed her lips and rubbed circles on Anna's shoulders. She wanted to make Anna feel better, but she wasn't really the smartest person when it came to reassurance well being. But the gods must have been in her favor because she just had the craziest idea.

_Crazy doesn't even begin to explain it._ _And I would hope she would say yes._

"Anna.." Elsa softly said, gently shaking her to look up at her. Anna turned her head, and Elsa stared deeply into her turquoise eyes.

"Would you like to go to dinner with me?"

* * *

**Oh Elsa you sly dog. Was thinking about not including Anna listening to her dad one last time but I needed to put out a reason why Anna should continue living with her artificial heart. There will be mentions of Disney characters but I think Tiana and Naveen will be the only non-Frozen characters to make an appearance. Maybe. Next chapter will be the dinner and the first day to Anna's exploration of the world. Till next chappy!**


	7. A Platonic Dinner Indeed

_May 5, 2052_

_Something grave has happened today. Anna had not come back from her morning stroll around the garden. I had the servants go out looking for her with the mindset that she had simply lost track of time playing with the ducklings or some other… One of them came back to me in a panic, sputtering something about "collapse on the floor" and "hand to her chest". I frantically followed the servant to the waiting quarters where Anna was laying down on a couch, surrounded by concerned maids and butlers. _

_She was shaking. And not the feeling you get when it's cold outside, but by a more powerful source. _

_One from inside._

_She was curled up in a ball, dress wrinkled from the position and dirtied on the hem. Her arms were wrapped around her chest and her teeth were clenched tightly in her mouth. I immediately went to her, and as soon as she saw me, I witnessed her mustering up every bit of her strength to whisper something to me._

"_Daddy…. My heart..."_

_That was all three hours ago. Now, Anna is resting on her bed with a cardiac machine beside her. I had Dr. Von Drake check on her and what I had been dreading came to pass. _

_Anna will no longer be allowed outside due to conditions and she will be monitored 24/7 for any signs of failure or struggle._

_I'm sorry Anna.. You didn't deserve this._

* * *

Elsa was nervous.

No, wait. Scratch that.

Elsa was _panicking._

An hour earlier, she could've settled the proper arrangements for a decent dinner. She could've gotten ready, accommodations prepared at her request, the main course planned out and fancified. She could've been productive.

Instead, she had been pacing her room, arms wrapped around her stomach like a vise and eyes jumping around frantically. The occasional sitting and thinking she had calmed down ceased to pass and in favor, accepted that fact that she was hopeless when it came to planning dinner.

_I was taught etiquette at the table; I know the difference between a dinner fork and a salad fork, what could be more difficult?_

Except the fact that this was not formal dining with a duke or a dignitary from another country, but a casual meet up that had no intentions about talking politics. Small talk was the key to these type of things.

_I can't do small talk._

She had told Anna that she would pick her up in her selected room at seven, which was thirty minutes away. She gave her a ship uniform she thought would fit so Anna could at least get out of her seven year hospital gown and attend the dinner in decent attire. Elsa would don on her usual Queen uniform so clothing for the event was at least taken care of. But that was the least of her worries.

_I need help, _Elsa gravely thought. She knew just the person but she dreaded all the teasing that would come with his advice. She sent a message to Kristoff on her wrist communicator and waited patiently for her friend to arrive.

Her door _hushed_ open and she was in counter with her captain once more.

"So, you need my help in choosing which table cloth goes best with the cutlery," Kristoff smirked.

Elsa groaned, "It's more than that. I need help arranging everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

Kristoff whistled, took a chair from her desk and twisted it so he can rest his arms on the backrest.

"A dinner eh? A little too fast in my eyes."

"I just want to make her feel comfortable for the time she's with us."

"Are you still going to use her?"

The feeling Elsa felt before came back; her eyes hardened and her body went tense. She sighed, rubbed her eyes, and then sat down on her bed.

"I..I don't know. I don't want to."

Kristoff sensed the atmosphere around Elsa and ceased from saying anything more. He merely nodded and moved on.

"So, you just want it to be a casual dinner right? No fancy utensils, filet mignon, candle lit table?"

"It's a platonic get together, not a date."

_Not yet,_ Kristoff thought but he knew when Elsa was at her teasing limit.

"Tell you what, you go get ready, press your uniform and reapply your bandages or something. I'll go talk to Remy and organize the meal for tonight and have Olaf help me in setting up the table and stuff."

Elsa let out a breath of relief, "Thank you Kristoff, I owe you."

"No problemo. Where are you planning on having it? I hope you aren't going to say the bridge by that little window in the corner.."

"Of course not! I was going to have it in the Halcyon Floor."

Kristoff leaned forward in his chair, a tuft of his blonde hair falling out of its place and onto his forehead.

"Ooh! How fancy! What do you want? New Paris? Oh, how about the cliffs of Dover?"

"Just a flower field will be fine."

The captain's chair thudded against the floor as he fell back.

"Boo, you're no fun."

"Platonic. Must I remind you?"

Kristoff sniffed and rested his chin on his arm. Seconds passed and Elsa stayed quiet.

"What's wrong?"

Elsa fiddled with her hands, ashamed that she was found out, "I'm just nervous about what I should talk about. You _know_ I'm not one for keeping a conversation unless it involves treaties and negotiations."

"Just try to get to know her. Tell her a little about yourself, about this ship. Inform her where we're heading to next Elsa, I'm sure it won't be that hard-"

"And what if I run out of things to say? Do I just keep eating? Should I compliment her clothes? Wait- it's the uniform. There's nothing worth complimenting, I mean, I could say her figure looks-"

"Elsa, I promise you. You will be fine."

The Queen opened her mouth to riposte back but a voice in her head impeded.

_You'll be fine, Elsa._

Elsa looked down solemnly, hands still on her lap. He was right, she will be fine.

"…Alright."

Kristoff smiled at Elsa and stood up, "Well, I better be heading out," he swiveled the chair to its correct position in front of Elsa's desk and saluted her, "I'll com you when everything is done."

Elsa smiled warmly at Kristoff as the door slid open, "Thank you Kristoff."

Once alone, Elsa stood up abruptly from her seat, walked briskly to her bathroom mirror, and lightly slapped her cheeks. "You can do this, you can do this…"

* * *

_You can do this. You can do this. You can do this._

An hour later and right on time, Elsa was strutting to Anna's room, Arendelle coat brushing her heels as she walked, hair washed and rebraided, and nervousness strong as ever. She shortly cursed herself for putting Anna's room so close to hers. She was blindly hoping the walk to the young woman's room would calm her down, but that was not in her favor.

Instead, she only had a ten second cool time.

And here she was.

_Damn it._

Elsa's body was frozen, arms limp at her sides, and for a moment, Elsa forgot what she was here for. But the notion would not be forgotten so easily.

_Should I knock? Yeah sure, go for it Elsa, it doesn't hurt to knock._

Elsa lifted her knuckle hesitantly, _knock knock kn-knock knock._

The blonde waited patiently, quickly checking herself and making sure every fold was in place and every badge was unblemished.

_Knock knock._

Elsa had been staring at the ground, anxiousness rising at each passing second, but when she heard the knocks back, her mood instantly elevated and a huge smile spread across her face. Now she was giddy; she felt her insides jump in excitement in the way Anna responded back to Elsa's shy taps with a pair of playful thumps right back at her.

From that second on, Elsa knew that Anna was enthusiastic, happy that she was going to have dinner _with a girl she just met_. The door glided open and there stood Anna, uniform looking absolutely terrific on her despite the standardization of the style, and face lit up even more at the sight of Elsa.

The ship uniform Anna was wearing belonged to the Patrol division: grey jumpsuit fitted up to her chest and a blue, long sleeve vest buckled over her torso. A reflective design aligned most of her back, a visual aid for fitting spacewalk gear while the Arendelle insignia sat atop her left breast, gold crocus forever in bloom. Uniforms of all types were made to be durable; movement comfortable in any direction. They weren't meant to be revealing, or in any way suggestive -even for the female sex- so Elsa had no idea why the uniform on Anna looked so… suggestive.

And it didn't help that her hair was loosely braided into two plaits, bangs brushed to the side instead of hanging freely over her forehead. Elsa noticed that Anna wasn't wearing makeup, or that she didn't need to because the redhead had her own natural beauty.

"Hello."

"Hi."

Anna was still standing in the entryway, smile beaming up at Elsa, "Do you want to come in, or..?"

Elsa blinked, "Oh! Uh, I don't have to, I mean I will, if you want me to come in. Do you have everything you need? Enough toiletries? Do you want me to get an extra pillow for your bed?"

Anna giggled and moved forward, allowing her room door to slide closed. Elsa, unprepared for the redhead's sudden movement, shuffled back sloppily.

"You don't have to, you just kept standing there so I thought you wanted to come in."

"Oh, my apologies. The.. the uniform is fitting you well?" Elsa turned and started to walk, Anna close beside her. She didn't want her composure to fracture just by the mere observation of her companion's attire.

"Oh yes!" Anna looked down and pulled at the polyester clothing, "It fits like a glove. It's so nice to wear pants after so many years in a dress. I can actually walk more than two feet now without feeling a draft."

Elsa laughed, "I'm sure. I don't usually like wearing dresses, much to my advisers' belief that Queens are supposed to be," she airquoted with her fingers, " 'poised and professional'. I'm just the type of royal that does a lot of stuff at a lot of places so I need to run around easily."

"I keep forgetting you're a queen. You seem so casual, so free."

"Really?" They turned a corner and two workers who happened to pass by them, saluted to Elsa before she regarded them.

"Kristoff says that I need to let loose; that I should let my hair down or something like that."

"Oh _him?_" Anna sneered. She looked down and folded her arms, "That brute of a man wouldn't let me in the sickbay. He even had the audacity to call me feistypants while manhandling me! Ugh, we just met and I already can't stand that guy."

Elsa smiled at the thought of Kristoff simply standing in the doorway with Anna trying to push herself past him.

"Kristoff is a good man, and if anything, he's my best friend," she stopped at the bottom of a stairwell and ushered Anna to proceed, "He may seem… hardheaded at first, but he's really sweet once you get to know him. He means well." Anna hummed in response and continued climbing.

The pair finally reached the top of the metal stairwell, Anna standing still to the side and Elsa finishing the last steps with a flourish of her coat.

The upper level consisted of a hallway that was currently decorated intricately to suit the style of the occasion, and apparently Kristoff planned the theme to be… roses and champagne.

_Kristoff…. This isn't platonic._ One glance at the hanging candle holders and Elsa groaned.

_At all._

Elsa gulped obviously and looked to her companion, explanation for such an embellishment concocting in her mind. But Anna didn't look uncomfortable; the opposite in fact.

Once Anna decided to close her gaping mouth, she bounded from Elsa's spot, scampering to the nearest ornament_. _The lights were dimmed, red curtains draping over the walls, barely clinging to the titanium barrier but giving off an outlandish feel. There were exotic potted plants lining either wall-probably from the greenhouse in the ship.

Anna kneeled at the first one of the many, many pots, an audible sniff resounding from the redhead.

"Daisies," Elsa walked up behind her, "They mean innocence. These flowers came from the _North Mountain_'s greenhouse."

Anna stood up, "I remember that one from my childhood. Whenever my father let me out in his garden to get some fresh air, I'd always go to the flower beds and lay in the middle, taking in each of their scents."

They walked the rest of the hallway, Anna gawking at each adornment and Elsa amusing at each exclamation. When they finally reached the end of the passage, Olaf was standing by the doorway, engineering uniform fitted to be like a waiter's. He had a towel draped over his arm and a bottle of champagne in the other.

"Evening ladies," he smiled at Elsa, "Queen Elsa." Elsa nodded back. He looked at Anna, happiness rivaling the expression on Anna's face.

"Hi! I'm Olaf, I don't believe we've met yet." He shifted the bottle to his other hand and stuck out his free hand. Anna gladly took it, but once she grasped his, the young man pulled her into a hug. Anna squeaked in surprise while Elsa laughed, "He likes hugs."

Olaf broke away from Anna and went back to his previous pose, "The table is set and the location you requested should be up. You ladies have a good dinner now." He handed the bottle to Elsa and pushed the code in for the door. Elsa ushered Anna in and silently thanked Olaf.

The pair was welcomed to a domed room with projection screens covering every inch of wall, including the floor. Elsa heard Anna gasp and saw her cover her mouth. Vast fields of flowers stretched beyond the horizon, barely touching the base of snowcapped mountains in the backdrop. The sun was hanging midday, the perfect time of day for viewing flowers, and evidentially enough, Elsa could feel the warmth of the sun on her neck. The floor projected blowing grass and whenever Anna stepped through it, bundles of grass would move out of the way for her foot, an interactional part of the projection system.

Anna did a twirl as she walked, viewing the blue sky and multi-colored flowers all around her. Before she could trip over her feet, Elsa guided her to a lone, clothed table in the middle of the room, two chairs beckoning for their seat. They each sat down, Elsa pouring the champagne in both their glasses and Anna continuing her ogling.

"This place Elsa.. it's beautiful."

"Hm? The location I set up or the room itself?" Elsa took off her coat and draped it over the back of her chair.

"I don't know, both? It's just.. I've never seen anything like this."

Elsa laughed lightly, "It's called the Halcyon Room. Only Voyager Class 2 ships like this one have this kind of feature. It's used by crewmen who get homesick during space voyages to relax and disregard for a brief moment that they're on a yearlong cruise in the stars. You can put it to any setting, with additional scents and noises, though we still need to download those."

"I can see why anybody would want to come here, it's relaxing." Anna leaned her head on her hands, still staring at the projected walls.

"Hence the name Halcyon. But I'm glad you like it." Anna looked down from her viewing and glanced at Elsa. She flashed a smile and the redhead automatically smiled back. Anna was going to say something when he automated sliding door _hushed_ open and in stepped Olaf, a plate in each hand. He sauntered over to the ladies and gently placed each dish in front of them.

"Smoked salmon and steamed potatoes for the ladies. Exclusively chosen by Chef Remy himself. If you ladies need anything just give me a com." Olaf smiled brightly at the two girls, bowed, then walked back out.

Their dinner was spent in silence; the recording of the wind and the rustle of the grass the only noise- up until their meal was almost done, then Elsa decided it was a bit too long since their conversation ended.

She set aside her utensils and wiped her mouth, "This is your first meal since.. seven years ago, isn't it?"

Anna swallowed the last of her dinner and nodded solemnly, "Yeah… it's been seven years hasn't it? But I'm glad that my first meal was spent with something delicious. I couldn't have asked for anything better." She smiled at her empty plate then at Elsa. "Thank you. For everything."

Elsa slid her hand across her bangs, "I just wanted to make you feel better after all that's… happened."

"Well it sure did make my day- or night. I never knew I would be dining with the Queen of Arendelle, let alone in a spaceship, in actual _space_."

"I'm hoping it has reached your expectations?"

"More than that actually. With the dinner and everything. I'm glad it was you who my dad asked to come rescue me."

"Well," Elsa placed her cloth napkin atop the table, "It was my father, originally, who was requested by the doctor. But, after all that's happened during my parents' business meet, the task was left to me. It was quite a surprise actually." Elsa chuckled.

"Oh really?" Anna placed her elbows on the table and folded her hands, resting her cheek on her knuckles, "Why is that?"

"I had just woken up from my slumber at my desk-"

"No way! You sleep at your desk?"

"Well, I was…" Elsa shuffled in her seat, the brushing soundtrack of the flowers masking the noise, "Researching… something." The Queen pursed her lips, unsure if she should tell Anna about the generator problem. "Doing duties as a Queen only leaves you with so much strength at the end of the day."

Anna smirked, and nodded.

"Olaf comm-ed me to go over things and I had gotten the message from Dr. Agdar. I already was surprised that someone like your father would comm me but it shocked me even more when I saw the sent date." Elsa paused before speaking again,"Did you.. know that you would be comatose?"

The redhead across from her shrugged her shoulders and looked to the side, one of her plaits falling behind her back, "My father informed me that I would be comatose for a long period of time. I didn't know it would be seven years, but I did know that my body would be different once I woke up. That doesn't change the fact that I know nothing of the world now though.."

Elsa hummed in response and leaned back in her chair, arms crossing across her chest. "We're heading to a rest stop right now to fix damages to the ship. Maybe I can… show you a few things? Take you on a shuttleship and show you the stars?"

The blonde could see the registration of her words form across Anna's face, her mouth slowly changing into a wide, open-mouthed smile. She blinked a few times, containing her excitement.

"Wait, y-you will? You'll take me to go see things?" Anna had slid forward, eyes wide with anticipation and hands gripping the edge of the table. Elsa, perhaps already used to the redhead's antics of making sudden movements, stayed in her spot and smiled, eyes squinting in enjoyment at the thought that Anna was way more enthusiastic than she thought she was going to be.

"Mhm, we can go wherever you want to go."

There was a long gasp of breath before the sound of a loud scrape.

Anna had jumped up from her chair.

"Oh! Thank you thank you!"

And ran around the table to Elsa.

Who in turn had stood up from her chair, expecting to receive a graceful hug from the charging woman.

That was not the case.

But then again, she had to remember that it was Anna.

Anna had latched her arms around Elsa in an attempt at a hug –which she was trying for, she swears!- but had no idea of her momentum and had crashed her body onto the blonde's, losing her balance. They both fell on the floor with a dense _thud!_ The computerized grass recognized the movement and swayed in favor of their weight on the floor.

Though it was shown to be grass, the titanium floor was as hard as ever; Elsa could vouch for that.

Said woman groaned in pain, head throbbing and chest heavy. She pushed away the aching to open her eyes and saw Anna's face close to hers, shock flowing through her eyes.

Elsa's previous thought of already being used to Anna's antics was no more than a lie.

_She could never cease to surprise me_.

A small giggle passed through the blonde's lips, then two, and then just busted out laughing. Anna was taken back. She had never heard Elsa laugh before, and she wished she had before –in a different position of course- because Elsa laughing was probably the best thing she's ever heard since her awakening. The blonde brought a finger to her eye, _am I crying?_ but continued to laugh.

All seriousness left Anna and she too joined in the fun, giggling alongside her friend. Finally, the laughing ceased to short snickers and Elsa looked down at Anna, grin bigger than ever, "I guess we'll always find ourselves in situations where we're both so close to each other."

Elsa didn't even mean to say that. She was going to say something about breaking her fall or some sort, but for some reason she had said that phrase instead.

However, Anna didn't find it strange and just played along, "Well as long as I'm not complaining, I think we're fine."

There was silence between the two.

Anna hadn't mean to say that either.

The pair still stayed in their position, Anna's arms laying by the sides of Elsa's head and Elsa's hands on Anna's back. They stared at each other, both woman finding any form of sentence that could make up for their sputtering nonsense.

Something clicked inside Elsa, she didn't know what it was but she knew it by the feeling of something fluttering inside of her, like… _a sun-kissed butterfly flapping inside her chest._

_That was a weird analogy.._

But what was this feeling?

_Is it from the way we're positioned? Is my hand too low on her back? Oh gods, my hand is too low isn't it?_

The two were saved by a ding from the public address system.

"Queen Elsa? Sorry to interrupt, but Kristoff just told me that we're arriving at our destination. Your presence is requested at the bridge."

Elsa and Anna immediately recovered from their position. Anna patted at her uniform while Elsa picked up her chair that had fallen. She took her coat from the floor and put it on, thoughts still racing in her head.

_Ah, fuck it._

Anna straightened out her chair, unsure if she should wait for Elsa, but when she looked up, the blonde was patiently standing by her side.

"Shall we go?" Elsa was smiling, causing all awkwardness to leave Anna. She smiled back just as much, "Of course."

* * *

How was everybody's holiday break? I know mine was relaxing, but semester has started once again... BUT! Thank you all whoever followed and read this story thus far and for being so insanely patient with every chapter! See you nerds next time at Tiana's place!


	8. Tiana's Place

**Naveen as a handsome expert on chemical and mechanical engineering? Yes please.**

* * *

"Wow, I just- I've never seen.. wow…"

Elsa and the gang had boarded inside the restaurant's flight hanger, which was surprisingly huge, having had fit the _North Mountain_ with a little head room for the top. The hanger sat behind the eatery and according to Elsa, it belonged to Tiana's husband. The restaurant, however, sat in front of it, barely reaching the height of the enormous storage building.

It was a cute little edifice; a two story building with bright lights attached to almost all of the metal surface and an enormous neon sign that flashed "Tiana's Place." It seemed as though the diner _and _the hanger was encased in a glass globe, safe from the oxygen depleted atmosphere of space.

Anna couldn't wait to board and explore; her excitement threatened to spill as soon as she saw the restaurant atop the space rock. And now here she was, standing in the middle of the hanger, mouth gaping open.

"This place is HUGE!" Her voice bounced off the walls as she twirled, taking in every aspect of the vast space.

Behind her, Kristoff whistled. "Pretty good, pretty good. Though I must say that my hanger is bigger," he whispered to Elsa, who in turn just laughed and shoved him away.

The blonde then straightened her lapels and turned around to her crew, clearing her throat in the process.

"You guys helped make this mission a huge success so I brought it upon myself that a reward is appropriate at this time. While the ship is being fixed, everyone can relax and eat at the restaurant, everything all on me. Now go and enjoy yourselves!"

Her crew cheered and whistled at the generous offer of their Queen before bustling towards the hanger exit and into the restaurant. In the midst of the hurrying crowd was a tall, dark skinned man with styled hair and clothes to match. He had almost been trampled by the mob, but with a huff he made it out of the sea of people.

He grunted and fixed his vest and hair, which had been ruined by the pushing and shoving of the crewmen. As soon as he set eyes on Elsa though, he beamed and sauntered over to her.

"You must be Queen Elsa! I never knew your lovely voice in your comm would match your appearance." He took out a hand and Elsa reached out as well. Once he had a grip on Elsa's hand, he lifted it to his lips and kissed her knuckles, drawing a quick intake of breath from the blonde.

"And you must be Naveen," she retreated her hand and folded it in front of her stomach. "Thank you again for taking us in at such last minute."

Naveen threw back a hand and ran his palm across his hair, "Nonsense! Anything for an old friend of Tiana's. She was ecstatic when she heard news that you were arriving. She's been getting everything ready in the kitchen since about two hours ago."

Elsa chuckled, "That sounds like her. Oh, I would like to introduce Captain Kristoff Bjorgman, Admiral Hans Westergard, and a friend, Anna Christian." She gestured to all three but Naveen seemed to only register Anna's existence.

"Ah, Anna," he bent down, taking her hand that was hanging limply by her side and kissed it as well. "If I didn't know better, I thought you were the sister of our fair Queen Elsa. A pleasure to meet you as well." Anna squeaked at the sudden sign of friendliness from Naveen.

Elsa cleared her throat boldly and was just about to walk between them when Naveen straightened his back.

"Now, back to business. What was wrong with your ship again?" He looked to Elsa, waiting for a diagnosis of the problem at hand. And Elsa was ready to give him an answer.

Until she remembered that she didn't exactly know _what _was wrong with the ship, except for the fact that the power core was damaged.

"Uh…"

"Due to unavailability of cryo-barriers erecting around the perimeter of the power core, thermal temperature has decreased from our stagnant delay in cold weather. Our control rods have frozen over and our dilithium crystal isn't reacting properly to the separate action potentials of the antiprotons."

The group all turned their heads to the source of the new voice, who turned out to be Olaf emerging from the ship.

"Olaf? What were you still doing in the ship?"

The young man jogged the last steps down, "I had to check the plasma levels in the core. It's a good thing we got here sooner because the conduits were pinching; no antimatter was running through them and we would have lost energy all throughout the ship an hour later."

"Have you thought of transferring deuterium and anti-deuterium in place of the electro-plasma?" Naveen had stepped forward, coquettish attitude replaced with professionalism.

Olaf turned to the dark skinned man, eyes shining brightly. "I _had_ thought about that, but that would mean disturbing the adiabatic process between the potentials and gods know how that would end."

The pair stared at each other for a moment, Naveen scrutinizing the shorter man with folded arms and Olaf staring back with a lopsided grin.

Finally the latter shot out a hand, "Naveen Borghese. Nice to know that someone else knows engineering like I do."

Olaf took it with both hands and shook it fervently, "Olaf Hermanson. I'm mechanical and thermodynamics in the engineering division on the _North Mountain."_

Naveen whistled, "_Ashidanza _man! Now that's a title! How old are you?"

"Twenty!" Olaf chirped. Naveen threw his arm around Olaf's shoulder, "Still young for a smart man like you! And I bet the ladies love that."

"Um.." Olaf was about to respond when Elsa spoke in for her confused comrades.

"Sorry to interrupt, Olaf," she turns to Naveen, "but can you repair our ship?"

Said man looked back at the remaining group and waved his hand lazily, "Of course of course! But I must request that Olaf be my aide. I'm going to need someone with the same mind as mine to help me around the ship. In the meantime, let me show you the restaurant. Tiana would love to see you."

* * *

"ELSAAAA!"

"Tiana long- OOF!"

Kristoff had to steady Elsa from her recent tackle in hopes that the blonde wouldn't get anymore hurt than she is right now.

_I forgot about the pain in my side,_ Elsa thought through grit teeth. Tiana pulled back, enough that Elsa had room to breathe but that she was still holding her childhood friend.

"It's been so long! How are you? I heard you're Queen now!"

Elsa smiled down at her friend, "I'm great actually. Queenly duties is a lot, but you already knew that I was born for this."

"Literally," she laughed, "But who are your friends?" Tiana looked over Elsa's shoulders and smiled at the group of people behind her.

"Captain Kristoff Bjorgman-"

"Captain! Last I saw you, you were just a young officer."

The blonde man raised in eyebrow, "You.. you know me?"

"Oh no, not personally. Elsa told me about you and how you joined the fleet at such a young age. Look at you now. You're not that chubby little kid that waddles around anymore." Tiana winked and nudged him on the arm. Kristoff huffed in embarrassment and he swore that he heard Anna snicker nearby.

"Admiral Westergard is here with us as well. I'm sure you remember him from the big parties."

Tiana turned to the admiral and put her hands on her hips, "Ah I remember you. Your father would always like showing you off to other families, especially to my father. Liked to gloat about your success in the International Aerospace Academy and your boy scout training."

Hans squinted at Tiana and folded his arms across his chest, "It was a conference."

"Uh huh. And how are your brothers" Tiana smirked at the side-burned man, sending back cockiness of her own.

Hans huffed, "They're.. fine. Busy as usual with their positions and such, but not as much as I am."

Tiana waved him off but was startled by a sudden rush of movement in front of her. Her vision was blocked by a messy mop of black hair.

"Hi! I'm Olaf!"

The olive skinned young woman blinked in surprise before smiling warmly. She reached over and gave Olaf a hug.

"Nice to meet you Olaf. I'm Tiana."

The bespectacled teen seemed to be confused about being hugged first but Olaf just shrugged his shoulders and hugged back just as much.

"This man right here knows a thing or two about spaceships Tiana. And he's going to be helping me later on their power core." Naveen put an arm around Tiana and gestured to Olaf, "A real man right there."

Kristoff and Hans overheard what Naveen had said and subconsciously puffed out their chests in defiance. The duo noticed what the other had done and began a chest puffing contest, with Hans failing miserably compared to the bigger blonde.

"Go eat you guys! Food is still warm and plenty to go around!" exclaimed Tiana. Hans, Kristoff, and Olaf walked to an empty table. Anna was about to head out as well when Elsa held her by her arm.

"I feel like their rowdy behavior would be too much for you. Especially with Hans and Kristoff. They could get really competitive while drinking and I don't want you in the middle of that."

They sat at a table with Tiana and Naveen and Elsa told them why they were venturing and who Anna was. Elsa looked at Anna in between her story to make sure the girl was alright. Anna would catch her gaze and would lightly squeeze Elsa's hand in reassurance.

"Oh my, sugar that's horrible!"

Anna was still gazing at Elsa that she almost missed what Tiana had said.

"Hm. O-oh wait, what?" The redhead snapped out of her stupor and blinked at Tiana.

"It must have been horrible what they did to you and Elsa! And your poor family… Please accept my condolences."

"Oh they didn't do anything to me. I mean, they would have but Elsa was there to protect me. And thank you.. They would have loved to see this place. It's beautiful."

Elsa looked around in favor of Anna's compliment. The inside was just as bright as the outside was. Almost every table was filled tonight and waiters swept in and out of the kitchen to fetch the entries. There was a faint jazz piano medley playing in the background, probably the entertainment Elsa thought. Everybody was happy and that's how everybody should be right now.

"Why thank you sugar. Though I have to say that everything wouldn't have happened if I hadn't met Naveen."

"Oh yes, I heard that he bought this whole place for you as a wedding gift."

"Oh he did, and much more," Tiana smiled at her husband before leaning in towards Elsa and Anna.

"He's actually a prince from Maldonia."

"WHAT!?" Anna and Elsa both shouted at the same time. Tiana merely nodded and continued, "Well, EX-prince. His parents are still king and queen but under certain circumstances he was kicked out of the kingdom."

"That's- that's terrible! Why?" Anna had never heard of a prince being kicked out of their own royal home. She had figured that the crime must have been so great that the king and queen _had_ to kick out their son and heir to the throne.

Tiana shielded the side of her mouth that was near Naveen, "Mostly because he was being lazy around the castle so they sent him out to learn how to do labor."

_Oh._ Anna slunk back in her seat. Her vision of princes was tainted. She always thought royalty kept the mindset that their reputation as monarchs was the most important task. That there was no other future for them than to rule on an iron throne. At least that's what she read, and what she's seen through Elsa.

"We met in New Orleans, stuff happened with an evil shaman, and long story short, we fell in love and he used the last of his royal allowance to buy this asteroid and build my dream restaurant. We were almost broke by the time of our honeymoon but I couldn't have asked for a better husband." Tiana hugged Naveen's arm and they shared a sweet moment looking into each other's eyes.

Anna's heart warmed at the sight and she couldn't help the smile blooming on her face.

"But aren't you sad that you aren't prince anymore?" Anna inquired.

Naveen stared into his wife's eyes a little longer before responding.

"Ah, as many times as I would like to become Prince of Maldonia again, it would never compare to how many times I would marry Tiana over and over again if I had the chance." He kissed his wife, making Anna inwardly _aww_. "Besides, I'm perfectly happy here. I get to play tunes with the boys, help my beautiful wife around the restaurant, and eat great food. Tiana's gumbo could beat kingdom food any day."

"You never cease to flatter my cooking Naveen. Why don't you guys eat? I can go request two more bowls of jambalaya from the kitchen." Tiana was just about to get up when Elsa intervened.

"Oh no! It's okay Tiana, Anna and I already ate. Though I'm sure your jambalaya would have tasted _phenomenal, _I wouldn't want to waste any of it."

"Oh, you two already ate? On the ship?" Tiana sat back down, confused.

"Yeah!" Anna spoke up this time, "Elsa took me to dinner."

"_OH," _the dark skinned woman looked to Elsa with surprise in her eyes that quickly turned into teasing, "Did she now?"

Elsa had just processed what Tiana meant and quickly sputtered out an explanation.

"I-I.. it was just welcoming gesture from the crew to her, I just happened… to request it upon her. Just a dinner." Elsa looked down at her lap to hide the blush that she could feel growing on her face. Anna beside her was amused at Elsa's behavior toward the mention of the dinner and wanted to hug her then and there for being so cute.

"And she also said that she was going to fly me out and show me the stars once we landed here." Anna quipped.

That didn't help Elsa. It made her blush even more prominent and she couldn't duck her head in any more than how she had it right now. Her chin was practically against her chest and she could feel the blood rushing to her ears.

"Oh did. She. _Now._" Tiana was having fun with this. It's been years since she'd seen Elsa and she was already teasing the poor girl.

Elsa needed a distraction, anything to get her out of this hot seat. She wasn't ready to address her feelings yet, and certainly not in front of Anna. If she was spouting nonsense right now, how more if she tackled the subject of dates and crushes. She never liked talking about those kind of stuff, mostly because she was busy with paperwork and had no such time to even begin to think about it. But now that she was in a casual setting, in a casual situation where the subject was brought up, she had no excuse.

"Um Your Highness?"

Elsa shot her head up, anxious that she had to explain her silence now.

"Y-YES!" She looked at Tiana but her gaze didn't look back; instead, to the side of her. Olaf had appeared beside the table, concern written over his youthful face.

"Excuse me for the sudden disruption Your Majesty but Marshall would like that you send an immediate comm back to him. It concerns Arendelle."

Elsa's queen mode quickly switched on. "Oh. Yes. Of course." She stood up and regarded her table. "Excuse me." And she strode off with Olaf, leaving Anna with Naveen and Tiana.

"What's this about? Did something happen?" Elsa whispered. They hung around in the short hallway to the restrooms, not entirely empty, but somewhere where they won't be disturbed. Olaf looked around the area before starting.

"He comm-ed me while we were eating and we heard everything." Olaf looked his queen in the eye and spoke low. "Elsa… The generator tripped for a short while in Arendelle."

"What?"

"There was no power for approximately two hours. It's a good thing it wasn't anything serious, just an energy skip in the cables probably. Marshall still wants you to connect back to him."

Elsa straightened her back and let out a deep breath, "Alright." She took out her tablet from her belt and comm-ed Olaf's associate. Once Elsa got connection, a large head bearing a somber expression appeared. The man had short black hair, dark, onyx eyes, and a chiseled face, almost like it was carved from ice itself. He spoke in a deep, rumbling voice.

"Your Majesty."

"Marshall. How are things back there?"

"Readings are good. At least now they are. I'm guessing Olaf informed you of our generator trip?"

"Yes, he did. Thank you by the way for taking in for your brother. I needed him with me on this mission."

"It's no problem Your Majesty, I'm sure you needed extra brains for your mission. The graphs and machines say that the generator is sufficient, but it also read that before the power shut down on us for a while. It was like the world ended.. First electricity ran out in the castle, then the markets, and then residential homes. People were crowding at the castle gates looking for extra warmth within but we couldn't help them. On the second hour, we almost had to gather all the citizens and shield them inside because the cold was becoming unbearable. But the generator miraculously came back on and temperatures went back to standard. The people were scared to death Your Majesty. We can't afford to have another outage like this again and we don't know if we're ever going to experience it for a second time.

My team of technicians are investigating the cause but they're finding no evidence of cut cable or rerouted power so the fault must be the generator itself, and you know we can't open it up without letting out the radiation inside."

"Yes, I know. But is every place heated back up again? Are the people okay?"

"Nobody was hurt, or course, just a little scare. And yes, heat and electricity is back up in the kingdom. Where is your Majesty right now?"

"We're getting our ship fixed at the nearest hanger. There were issues with the power core so we're getting it fixed at a diner slash repair shop called Tiana's Place. Departure will probably take place in a day? Maybe two? Is that alright?"

"That's alright Your Majesty, we're not trying to rush you back here. All I ask is that you try to find a new generator as soon as possible. Arendelle is too weak right now to sustain itself without electricity for this oncoming storm."

"Yes, I understand Marshall. Thank you for informing us. Tell my advisors that I will be on the case of the generator problem, and that we will be home in five days time."

Marshall nodded to his queen before Elsa ended the comm. She let out another breath and leaned against the wall, jazz piano still playing in the background. She already knew what Olaf was going to say to her.

"Are you still going to use Anna?"

Elsa turned her head on the wall to face him, a tired expression on her face. Now all her friends had asked her that same question and they were all given different answers, as if she was conflicted. But then again, who wouldn't be?

She didn't want to but she _had _to. What other possible solution is there for her?

"Ask Naveen for any spare parts you need to build an energy transfer machine. I can send you a copy of the doctor's journal while I plan out the operation."

"Elsa…"

"There's nothing else I can do Olaf. And I'm not about to put my kingdom in danger just for some... girl."

Something in Elsa made her feel disgusted for using that type of word to describe Anna.

"But you know she's not just some girl."

Elsa looked back Olaf before hanging her head in defeat. She knew she shouldn't have taken her mind off of her duties to her kingdom in favor for a certain redhead. This would have been easier if she just kept her focus on the main goal at hand.

Get closer to the redhead? Yeah, check. Develop feelings? Not on the agenda. She's not even sure if that was what she was feeling, or if it was just pity towards the cardiac patient.

_But what is my main purpose now?_

_To think of Arendelle. You were Queen before Anna's friend; loyalty to the kingdom is more important._

_But so is loyalty to Anna._

_What would your father do?_

_Not lose focus, that's what. He didn't bring you up the way you were to not think best for his kingdom._

_I AM thinking what's best for his kingdom. I just.. I don't think this is the best way to approach the problem._

_Well you haven't thought of anything else, have you genius? Because you were spending all your free time with Anna._

_Just shut up!_

"Elsa, you know that-"

"Do I not recall that you agreed to this plan as well?"

"W-what?"

Queen Elsa pushed herself off the wall and looked down at Olaf. She was done with her conflicting emotions and she was done with the same question over and over again. And not just from her friends, but from herself as well, so she chose the safe path: to continue their original mission, as was planned.

"You said yourself that a feat like what we're doing wouldn't be too hard and that you will help out in seeing that it is done."

Olaf shut his mouth and was the one to hang his head this time.

"I-I did but-"

"Now if there is no complaint of whatsoever, I expect a draft of it by morning." Elsa turned her back to Olaf and strode off, leaving the young man silenced and inept in his corner. She knew that she was a little hard on Olaf but she needed to straighten her mind out, push away any personal feelings and see the picture with a clear head.

Once she saw Anna laugh in her booth with Tiana and Naveen though, her queenly mood dissipated. She can never be overbearing to Anna, in fear that the younger woman will see her as just another cold hearted monarch.

_But that's what you haven't been showing her. That's why this is so hard for you._

_I know._

With no other anchor left to tether her from the decision she was about to make, she drifted off, not knowing the depth of the waters she was venturing in.

* * *

"So… Anna. What do you think about Elsa? You like her?"

Anna had watched Elsa walk away with Olaf, partially disappointed that the blonde had found an unlikely escape goat but mostly ecstatic that she was able to make her blush so much in one day that she absentmindedly answered the question.

"Mhm…"

Tiana jumped in her seat and grinned at her husband.

"See, I knew it Naveen!"

Anna was shot back to reality, "Hm? Wait what?"

"You DO like Elsa!"

Now it was Anna's turn to blush.

"I-I-I most not certainly maybe do not! Wait. Certainly maybe.. I most certainly do…? I just confused myself." In the midst of trying to figure out her grammatical conundrum, she felt warm hands cover hers.

"Anna, sugar, it's okay to like her. I find it really amusing actually."

"Y-you do? I mean, if.. if I did actually like her…"

"I do. And it's so obvious, I can see it from a mile away."

Naveen piped in, "It was so obvious, I was about to give out pointers to you."

Anna slumped forward and damned it all.

"How could you tell?"

"Honeybee, you give her the same look Naveen gives me. And just the way you two were sitting so close to each other, I never was able to get that close to Elsa. Plus the fact that you made her a bumbling mess in public. Elsa's NEVER flustered in public."

Anna giggled, "She is pretty cute when she blushes isn't she? But what should I do? She's Queen, I'm just… me."

"From what I've learned from my journey in falling in love with Naveen, it's that love has no boundaries. I mean look at me. I was just a poor, busybody waitress when I met Naveen, and even if he was an ex-prince we still fell in love because love has a way of joining two unlikely people together to make the perfect couple."

"Do you really think so?" Anna brightened at the declaration. She had liked Elsa from the beginning, even if it was based on friendly standards but after waiting for Elsa to pick her up for their dinner did she notice that she might like the blonde as more than a friend.

Her acts of bravery in their capture reminded her of the knights in shining armor in her books; Elsa was the rugged knight (or Queen, for this instance), and she was the damsel in distress. And she would only hope that fantasy stories like that could come true for her life.

"I know so," Tiana smiled wide at the redhead, "And you guys will be going out later yes?"

Anna couldn't control her excitement. She was looking forward for Elsa to show her the stars but mostly on spending more time with the Queen.

_Oh, how romantic is that? _"Yes, as soon as she comes back, we'll probably head out."

"A night under the stars eh? I remember when we spent a night laying in the stars' wake." Naveen wiggled his eyebrow at Tiana.

"It's impossible to forget. Our carriage ride ended with our horse running away and the roof flying off. I remember that well."

"Hey, at least it wasn't raining."

Anna giggled at the couple. If this what being in a relationship was like, she couldn't wait to be in one. Her insides fluttered when she imagined a certain blonde in the picture.

"Oh here comes Elsa. Now you two stay safe and not get into trouble you hear?" Tiana playfully chided Anna, making Anna chuckle more.

"I'll make sure Elsa is in check." And speaking of, the blonde had walked up to the booth. Anna beamed at the presence of Elsa.

"Elsa! Are you ready for our date? I mean, not that it's a date but I wouldn't mind-"

"I'm sorry Anna. I can't take you out. Something sudden came up in Arendelle so I have to see to it immediately."

Anna's smile melted immediately. She slowly sat back down in her seat and smoothed the wrinkles on her pants. She looked back up, uncertainty strewn across her face.

"I… But you said- you promised-"

"Anna." Elsa said firmly. Said person was physically taken aback. She had never heard Elsa say her name like that. It didn't sound right, like it wasn't actually Elsa who had said it. Her Elsa. Anna creased her brows together and refused to look at the Queen. She heard a sigh above her and Anna's mechanical heart broke even more.

"Anna," Elsa tried a little softly this time, "I did say I promised, but you need to understand that I have a whole kingdom under my jurisdiction and they need my support right now. This… can wait. Right now I need to do this." Her tablet beeped with a notification. Elsa quickly read it and hurriedly placed it back on her belt.

"I need to go. I'll be in my quarters if anybody needs me." And with that, the Queen left the group, no alternative plan pronounced nor any further explanation.

Tiana and Naveen, who had witnessed the whole thing, looked to Anna with concern. The young woman had her head low and was staring down at her hands on her lap. Tiana heard a sniffle.

"Honey.. Anna.. It's okay, she's probably-"

"I'm sorry, I-I have to.. E-excuse me.." With her head still bending low, she shuffled out of the booth and ran to the nearest exit, opposite from where Elsa departed through. Tiana looked at her husband with worry in her eyes but Naveen just shook his head solemnly.

* * *

Elsa jabbed the button beside her door multiple times, ignoring the pain that was forming in her finger.

_Why won't the damn thing close already!_

At last the stupid door _hushed_ closed, as if it had calmly responded to Elsa's annoyance with calmness of its own.

She put in a code and a red lock image appeared on the pad. Elsa sighed again for the umpteenth time that day and rested her forehead against the door she had recently been infuriated with, hoping that the frigid metal would cool her heating face.

She had to do it right? There was no helping it, Arendelle needed her. And she was already being _such_ a big help not being there, so she'd have to attend to her responsibilities thousands of miles away.

The image of Anna's face kept flashing through her mind on her trek to her room and it killed her every time. She closed her eyes and painfully kept them shut while muttering incoherence. She blindly walked to her bed, eager to just lay down and sleep away her problems when her foot caught her leg and she stumbled forward.

Elsa's eyes shot open when she didn't grasp any type of structure to lessen her descent. She fell for the second time that day and she was cruelly reminded of her stab wound in her side. She grasped her torso, trying to push away the discomfort but to no avail. All matter of recovery left her mind as she lay on her bedroom floor, no strength to get up.

Was this punishement?

Probably.

Did she care?

….

"I'm sorry Anna."

* * *

**Jeez so many line breaks in this chapter. I hope this didn't cause too much angst. That comes later.**

**Wait what?**

**And the part with Olaf explaining those fancy fancy words? **

**The bane of my existence. Thanks to all who reviewed and favorited this story so far. It really does make my day seeing those little messages in my email. Love you guys.**

**See you fellows in the next chapter!**


	9. Anna and Kristoff

_June 19, 2049_

_Today is Anna's fifth birthday. She's still as beautiful as the day she was given to us. We're holding a garden party for her at the manor and almost everybody in the city is invited so today will be a lot of work._

_I received a report from her last visit to the doctor. He said that her heart is looking good for her condition and that there's nothing to worry about right now._

_Yes, right now._

_Precautions must be made for Anna as she blooms into adolescence and then through puberty. Her body will be changing. So, last night, on the eve of the 19th, I have decided to create a new heart for Anna. One that will be able to sustain her body properly. _

_This will be my greatest feat yet, and there will be no doubt that almost all of my time will be dedicated to this project. I have still yet to create the blueprint and everything but once that is done, I will assemble a team that will work with me._

_All of this which will be secret of course._

_My little girl, my birthday gift to you will be a new life._

* * *

Anna didn't care if she might've bumped into wandering customers or busy employees, she just needed to get out of there. Her vision became blurry by the refusal of shedding her tears so she had no idea where she was going. Anna had earned a few stares and head turns, being that she was a sniffling mess and she was running away from an unseen force.

She turned a left, then a right. Or was it a right and then a slight diagonal forward?

Whatever.

She didn't have any specific place she was heading to, just _away_. She wasn't expecting anyone to call her out and comfort her nor did she want to see anyone right now.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she crashed into a wall, hard.

She fell back on her butt, tears threatening to spill out from the jolt of pain creeping up her spine. Then the wall spoke.

"Hey watch where you're-Anna?"

The redhead whimpered and wiped her eyes before blearily looking up at the speaker.

_Of all the people-_

"K-Kristoff." She slowly stood up and rubbed her sore back. She was going to feel that for a while.

"Are you okay? Why are you cry-"

"I'm not crying!" Anna exclaimed, clearly with tears hanging at the edges of her eyes, whether they were from the heartache earlier or from the fall, she didn't know anymore. She hastily wiped her eyes again with her sleeves and huffed.

"You're a terrible liar. Now, what's wrong?" Kristoff took a step forward but Anna took a step of her own back.

"Nothing. I don't need your sympathy."

"And I wasn't planning on giving any. I just want to know who made you cry."

Anna crossed her arms, no longer sad, just annoyed.

"What do you care? You didn't regard my emotions before."

"Wha-?" Kristoff started. He scrutinized the redhead, trying to make out what she meant until it hit him. He groaned and placed a palm on his forehead.

"Is it because of that time I- look, Anna, I'm sorry I didn't let you see Elsa. I was just trying to look out for her as a friend and wanted her to have time to herself so she could rest. I didn't know you were just going to stay with her until she awoke. Now I understand how much you care for her, okay? I'm sorry."

Anna stared at the blonde for a second before averting her eyes and mumbling under her breath.

"I shouldn't have cared too much about her."

"What?" The blonde man had to turn his ear to understand what Anna had murmured. "Oh my- is this about Elsa?" He paused then started again. "Did Elsa make you cry?"

Anna stood silently, arms crossed and gaze diverted, thus, confirming Kristoff's suspicion. He heaved a long sigh, "Ugghh.. Elsa.." He looked at Anna before beckoning to follow her. "Come on."

"W-why should I follow you?"

"Because we're going to talk."

Anna shifted on her foot, stood grounded in her spot and raised a brow unconvincingly, "I thought you weren't going to give any sympathy."

Kristoff exhaled through his nose, took off his hat and scratched his head. "My mind changed when I realized the conditions."

Anna laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Because of Elsa? What are you going to do? Give me advice or something?"

"Yes." Kristoff said simply.

"…Why?"

"Because I'm an expert on these kind of things."

She scoffed, "You? An expert? I'm not buying it."

"No really. And plus there's this garden I found that I think might pique your interest. We can talk there."

_A garden? On this heap of spacerock?_

Anna squinted at Kristoff, gears grinding in her head. She could still hear the clatter of dishes and the tangled symphony of talking in the restaurant behind her. She could use some peace and quiet right now. And the blonde apologized to her, he seemed to care about mending this… friendship between them.

"Fine." Anna stated simply. She saw Kristoff smile wide at her approval before marching off to his destination, the redhead trailing behind him wordlessly.

* * *

"And then she just completely blew me off for some things she had to do for Arendelle! I mean, I understand that she's queen and all, but I would have been fine if she just _mildly _let me down."

They were sitting underneath a willow tree in an exquisite part of the garden Kristoff mentioned. Anna had expected it to just be a line of flowers by a brick path but heavens was she wrong.

It wasn't like the one she had at her manor where it was mostly wide, open space with various types of potted plants and sculptors and where you can occasionally have garden parties in. However, this plot made up for it by being completely different from what Anna has seen.

It was a tunnel of tree branches that were made to overhang in that type of manner. The pathway was littered with purple petals and pots hung from the looming branches, carrying all kinds of plants and fruit. Strings of illuminating bulbs weaved in and out of the spaces between the branches and there were some weird, glowing orbs that encased some plants, giving off a mystical feeling. Anna felt like she was walking to a secret fairy garden and that at any moment, a forest spirit could pop out and grant her three wishes.

_Too many fairytales Anna. Too much._

At the end of the channel of branches was the willow tree Anna and Kristoff were currently seated at, a bench sitting at the trunk for their convenience. Anna had finished her rant with a flap of her arms and she sat back down to sulk.

"Oh, it's probably about the generator problem at Arendelle," Kristoff stated matter-of-factly. He looked to Anna, "That's why she blew you off."

Anna raised a brow and shifted her body to face Kristoff, confusion on her face.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, remember? Arendelle in a long winter, current generator is close to dying, imminent death for the population if Elsa doesn't find a new generator soon." Kristoff couldn't believe that Anna could forget something like that.

_I understand that she's been gallivanting around with Elsa this whole time but, come on._

"Wait. WHAT?" Anna's shout interrupted the mood of their environment. She didn't feel like she was in a magic garden anymore. She disregarded the twinkling of the lights in her peripheral vision to focus all her attention to the burly man in front of her.

"Didn't Elsa tell you about what's happening in Arendelle?"

"NO." Kristoff thought he heard Anna growl at the end of her reply. He stared at her implausibly before realizing his mistake. His eyes widened at a drop of a hat and he stiffened.

_Shit. Shitshitshitshit. Goddamn it Kristoff, you couldn't keep your mouth shut…_

It was like being back handed in the head with a bat. And he's sure that was what awaited for him if Elsa finds out.

"Shit, Anna, I thought Elsa would tell you at the dinner!" Now it was Kristoff that delivered the final blow to killing the scenic mood. They might as well just stayed in the restaurant if they were going to be this loud.

When he didn't get an answer from Anna, he shot up, his hat almost falling off from the reckless movement. Kristoff crossed his arms and began pacing in front of the fuming Anna, mind racing.

_What do I tell Elsa? She'll fucking KILL me if Anna tells her I accidentally spilled. _

Anna on the other hand, was furious. She was inattentively staring down a patch of chrysanthemums, a flood of emotions gushing through her.

She was pissed. A little hurt. But mostly pissed.

Elsa could've told her. She thought they were close enough to trust each other with these kind of things.

_I guess not._

But seriously, Elsa shouldn't be shouldering this alone, and she surely shouldn't be locking herself in her room, ignoring any sort contact from the outside world just to tend to her responsibilities. Anna could help her- she didn't know how yet- but it was better than being left in the dark.

"Anna."

The annoyed redhead looked up at Kristoff, who was obviously still distraught.

"Let me make it up to you," he reached behind his head and scratched his neck. "In place of Elsa not telling you. She didn't mean it to be in a demeaning sort of way, she was probably struggling if whether or not she should tell you.. you know, in case you freak out or something."

Anna crossed her legs, "I wasn't going to freak out.." she whispered under breath. "Well she said that she was going to fly me out using one of your ships."

"Oh.." Kristoff faltered. "Um…" He sat back down and rest his elbows on his knees.

"I.. can't really issue any use of nav ships while the _North Mountain _is being fixed. I would have to ask my upper authorities for permission and they so happen to be… Elsa. But her being Queen, I figured she could have done whatever she wanted."

The girl beside him sighed and looked down. _Yeah, could have._

"But..."Kristoff continued. Anna looked up. "We could go explore this place. It's bigger than I thought and there's more to this garden than it seems."

Anna stared back at the ground, contemplating Kristoff's words. It was better than sulking all day and wishing she could be somewhere she can't be. And this gives her time to hang out with someone who wasn't Elsa and gods knows that she needed that right now.

She abruptly stood up from the bench and walked the opposite direction. Kristoff witnessed her behavior and grew concerned.

"Where are you going?"

Anna looked back, "To go explore. This place isn't going to unravel itself." And resumed walking.

The captain stood up and fixed his cap. "It's the other way."

The redhead spun on her heels and confidently walked into the direction issued.

"I knew that."

The blonde smiled before following the marching girl.

* * *

An hour later, Anna and Kristoff finally grasped what this place was truly about. Kristoff was right, the garden had expanded even to the furthest end on the side of the hanger, surrounding the restaurant in its keep. Past the willow tree where both their outbursts occurred were more trees as opposed to flowers. The trail was wider and on either ends stood all types of arborous plants, almost shielding the sights of the starry sky. It was long time since Anna took in a breath of fresh air and she was experiencing it in a domed structure. In space.

Kristoff had to keep his eye on her multiple times, due to the energetic redhead running off at random moments to "see if there were any hidden passageways or caverns." There was one instance when Kristoff was dodging around cypress trees to catch the young woman that they stumbled upon a gardener tending to a patch of dogwoods. It was there that they learned the establishment of this mass of space rock.

It was true that Naveen had purchased this orbiting meteor and planned to build Tiana's dream restaurant here. But that was really all he could afford, so expenses were dry and they needed to get their name out into the world if they wanted to keep this dream afloat.

It wasn't until when Naveen introduced Tiana to his parents that things were brought back up again. They had taken a liking to Tiana so much that they offered to pay for any extra charges when jazzing up their restaurant.

When they had found out that the space rock Naveen purchased had high concentration of soil similar to Earth's, the Queen issued that a garden be erected around the diner, believing that the sight of the expanse of space would make customers homesick and literally short of breath. Plants from New Orleans were imported to fit the scene along with foreign ones from Maldonia. The hanger was made for passing spaceships looking for a place to rest or simply for people who ventured from Earth just to eat at this exquisite eatery.

Naveen also sprung a keen interest in the engineering field and in the few short years he's attended school, his inner genius popped out. The man was a natural Abe Silverstein! Apart from Olaf, Anna thought.

The pair thanked the gardener for his time and went off to finish their expedition. Their walk turned to conversations, with Kristoff telling Anna all sorts of adventures he's had during his training at the base and as a regular mountain man.

"No way! So your snowmobile just combusted? Just like that?!"

Kristoff chuckled at her expected reaction, "Well I didn't anticipate that it would be let off peachy clean when it rode off the cliff. But it did get me away from the wolves. If I hadn't jumped, I would've been eaten alive."

Anna mouthed an exclamation, trying to get how something so dangerous could happen to just anyone. Then again, previous events concerning her and others trumped that thought.

"I can't imagine what I could have done in that situation. Probably panic and fall off with the snowmobile," Anna confessed. She looked at Kristoff with wonder in her eyes.

"Your life is just so thrilling. If I didn't have my heart problem as a child, I would have performed so many things that got my blood pumping, instead of just sitting on a hospital hopefully wishing."

Kristoff glanced down at Anna, lips pursed. She was staring ahead with an indifferent expression on her face, body bobbing with each step of her foot. The captain kicked a pile of dirt and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Well I don't know how I'd deal with bearing an artificial heart." Kristoff stopped walking and when Anna saw that her friend wasn't beside her, she halted as well. He jerked his head towards her torso.

"Does it… how does it feel?"

Anna looked down at her chest and rubbed her fingers over the part of her uniform of where the scar would be.

"At first it felt foreign- but it was pumping and all, I could feel it- but.. it wasn't my heart. My own, _original_ heart that I was born with. It's ironic. How the one thing in my body that's supposed to keep me alive ends up bringing me closer to death every day."

Anna paused. Kristoff patiently listened, the restaurant far beyond their range by now that they were left with the soft silence of the garden. Then Anna continued.

"I sometimes forget that I have this artificial organ in my body. It's not hindering my actions or making me feel any less different, so the memory slips my mind. But when I'm alone with my thoughts, I have nothing else to go back to then moments I can remember prior to the incident. Then the realization hits me and I'm once again a bearer of this unfamiliar object."

Anna's hand fell to her side limply, "My father was a genius to come up with something like this so I don't want to put it to waste, that's why I want to throw myself at every opportunity I can take that gets my heart pumping with adrenaline or any other kind of emotion."

Her arms wrapped around her midsection to calm her nerves but Anna's voice still ended up breaking.

"That's why I thought I had a chance with Elsa. Because what I feel when I'm around her, I want to keep experiencing that. I thought I can have the chance at actually loving someone with my new heart.. it can't be any different right? But.. now I-I don't even know anymore."

Her voice shied away at the last sentence and tears were forming again in Anna's eyes. She shut them in hopes to contain them but only resulted in stinging her eyes until she felt herself being engulfed in warmth.

Her head was resting against a breathing chest and a chin was resting on the crown of her head. It took her a while to realize that Kristoff was hugging her, holding her body close to his in a close knit embrace. Anna tried to free her trapped arms, if only a little, to hug the blonde back, burying her face into his uniform.

"Anna.. you are the bravest, considerate, most persistent person I know. Apart from me of course."

Anna chuckled lightly against his chest, making Kristoff smile.

"But from thick head to thick head," the blonde lightly pulled Anna away from the embrace and looked her straight in the eyes, "I don't want you giving up on Elsa."

Anna stared at Kristoff's face before looking away and detaching herself from him. She remained quiet, not daring to voice her thoughts. Kristoff sighed.

"Anna, you have to trust me. Elsa is trying her best and…" Kristoff had to rethink his thoughts for a moment. It was obvious that Elsa was starting to warm up to Anna, potentially even calling off the idea of extracting energy from Anna's heart. He was all for Elsa finding happiness again, but when Anna told him that Elsa was shutting her out, he was reluctant if whether his Queen was denying it. He would have a talk with her later.

"I haven't seen her this happy since her parents died. I tried to help but.. it just didn't get through to her. But, you, Anna." At the sound of the directness of Kristoff's voice, Anna turned to Kristoff.

"You managed to break down her walls and make her feel human again. Elsa needs an anchor to this world and I believe that you can help her stay sane. And trust me, Elsa feels the same. It's pretty obvious. But she's going through a lot of things right now so she's unable to show them to you properly. Just.. please don't give up on this."

_If I have to smack Elsa upside the head to accept her feelings then so be it._

Anna finally smiled tenderly at the captain, arms loosening around her stomach. She took a step towards Kristoff.

"If you really think so," Anna folded a piece of her hair behind her ear, "Then I won't give up on Elsa."

The blonde slowly formed a huge smile across his face, eyes brimming with assurance and hugged Anna again, taking the redhead by surprise.

"I promise it'll be worth it. We're near the hanger so let's go see how Olaf and Naveen are doing."

* * *

"Hi Olaf!"

Anna leaned against the railing to let the young man get a better glance at her. She waved her arms sporadically and almost fell, if not for Kristoff jumping in, pulling her back with a strong grip on her uniform.

"Whoa, thanks." She patted Kristoff on the chest before turning back to Olaf. The bespectacled young man reluctantly waved back but the response was good enough for Anna. She raced towards the metal stairs and dashed down the staircase, taking two steps at a time, and landed on the metal floor of the power core chamber with a clang.

The room wasn't as fancy as the rest of the ship, so instead of sleek, white, aluminum flooring lay a metal surface. In the middle of the lowered room was a lofty, wide tube that was emanating a faint blue glow. Surrounding the cylinder was a dashboard that had all kinds of weird knobs and levers and other technical stuff Anna couldn't comprehend.

Olaf was standing next to a particular computer screen, numbers and graphs flashing across the monitor.

"Hi Anna."

"Hi! How's everything?" Anna chirped. Olaf rotated his head to look at the display over the dashboard, "We temporarily shut off the core but the alpha battery is still on so electricity is still running through the ship. Um, how are you? Are you.. okay?"

Olaf seemed quieter than usual, but Anna just overlooked it.

"I'm okay now. Kristoff and I hung out in the gardens and we walked around and stuff. It was fun, took my mind off of.. things. But how about you? Where's Naveen?"

Olaf nodded slightly in acknowledgement and eyed the radiating core.

"Things are slow right now. Naveen has all the spare tools that'll help repair the necessities to get our ship up and running. He's getting the parts right now in his storage so now we're just waiting for the energy to dim down so we can go in and replace the wiring."

"Wow, you're so smart Olaf! Only twenty years old and you're already a genius in this kind of stuff. I bet you can make anything you want!" Anna exclaimed proudly for the young man. Olaf, on the other hand, stiffened at the notion and averted his eyes from Anna.

He said to himself, "Yeah. I bet I could."

"Hm? Olaf are you okay?" Anna leaned forward so she can examine Olaf's solemn expression, but Olaf quickly recovered himself and flashed a fake smile at the redhead.

"Oh I'm fine Anna. You don't have to worry about me." Olaf prayed that Anna didn't find out that he was feeling down after what Elsa demanded from him. He kind of lied a little about Naveen getting parts for the core. In some honesty, he _did _tell Naveen that it was for the reparation, but truthfully, it was towards the blueprint he constructed in the hour he had before.

Olaf cared about Anna in the few days she arrived on the _North Mountain_, but it wasn't like he could disobey his Queen. Olaf just wished that it didn't have to be like this.

He shifted his eyes to Kristoff, who was standing behind Anna, and the blonde instantly understood, shoulders sagging in effect. At the perfect timing, Anna raised her arms and yawned.

"Alright feisty pants, time for bedtime."

Anna smacked Kristoff on the chest after her ear popping yawn. She rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"I told you not to call me that. And I'm not tired."

"That's not what your body is showing. And it's almost ten, you should get some rest." Kristoff wrapped his hand around her bicep and prodded her along.

Resisting, Anna droned, "But you said that you'd show me thiinnggsss"

Kristoff grunted, _she's stronger than she looks. "_I did, but it can wait until tomorrow. You probably can't even stay awake for the whole time."

Anna still continued to pathetically whine, making Olaf smile if by a small fraction. After a minute of useless tug of war between the two, Anna yawned once again and allowed herself to fall forward onto the captain's chest.

"Fine, I'll go," she muffled against his uniform. Anna pushed herself off and waved to Olaf.

"Night Olaf! Don't work too late!" Olaf raised his hand in reply and watched Anna trudge up the stairs. Kristoff stepped towards the raven haired man and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry. She'll come to her senses." The engineer nodded fervently and Kristoff followed after Anna. The burly captain didn't need to reiterate who he was talking about. It was clear to both of them and both men were probably on the same page in all of this. Now, they just need Elsa to jump on the band wagon. Or more like, surrender her whole body and mind to realize that this was not the best idea, no matter how hopeless the situation is.

Olaf took off his glasses and wiped the lens on his sleeve before getting back to work.

Three levels above the core chamber, Kristoff was redirecting Anna to the right route back to her room. They had passed Elsa's room and Kristoff noticed the fierce, bright lock emblem beside her door. He wondered if Anna even noticed but pushed aside the thought, no doubt too tired to care.

"So what are we doing tomorrow?"

Kristoff turned his attention away from Elsa's room and onto Anna, "I'm going to show you places."

"Really?!" Just like that, all the fatigue in the little redhead was gone. "Are we going to fly out?" Anna was practically the embodiment of a puppy, jumping up and down with excitement and eyes shining with hope.

Kristoff chuckled, "We're still not authorized to leave the area. But I have a better idea, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow." They arrived in front of Anna's room and she inputted the code, walking in once it opened for her. But before it could slide closed, she stepped in the space and leaned against the wall.

"Thanks for hanging out with me today. I really needed it." She looked up at Kristoff and smiled.

The captain blinked then smiled back, "No problem. I'm glad we were able to get that whole fiasco between us solved. You're not as bad as I thought." What Kristoff expected was another smack, he was given laughter instead.

"And you're not a pain in the ass." Anna retorted back. Kristoff laughed as well with Anna, and there were a few seconds of silence between them. Then Anna stepped forward and hugged the blonde, burying her face into his chest.

"And for the advice. Thanks." She wasn't sure if Kristoff heard her but she got her answer when he wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug.

"Anytime." He let go and Anna stepped back into her room.

"Night." She waved at Kristoff and he returned it, saying goodnight as well.

* * *

**Sorry guys. No Elsa in this chapter. Besides, it was time that our reindeer man got some screentime of his own! See you guys in the next chapter!**


	10. The Calm

Anna rolled over on her bed, sheets tangling once again around her ankles. She unconsciously scratched away an impending itch on her nose and shifted to a new position, finding a cold spot on the bed to warm up. She hummed once she found a cool place on the mattress and drifted back to sleep, hoping to sleep the day away.

Of course, if she didn't have things to do today.

Her bright teal eyes shot open, quickly adjusting to the holographic glow of the sun on the chronic day clock. She took in a deep breath, kicked at the entangled blankets at her feet, and sat up, wiping away the sleep in her eyes. Anna then lifted her arms, prompting a satisfying pop in her spine as well as a crick in her neck.

_ACK! Probably from my weird sleeping position._

Rubbing at the tight muscle at the junction between her neck and shoulder, Anna got out of bed and walked to her bathroom, the cold titanium floor of the ship chilling the soles of her feet. The light automatically came on once she stepped in and she stared at the face in the mirror.

She was still tired. If it wasn't obvious in her yes, then it was apparent in her _magnificent_ mane that was her hair. Anna glared at the untamed strands and tried smoothing it out but to no avail.

_Bedhead in the span of seven hours.. This didn't happen in the seven years I was sleeping._

The thought of sleeping again after being dormant for so long seemed bizarre to the redhead. She figured that because she was out for so long, Anna could stay up for _days._

But then again, she was still human. And her body had its regulatory needs.

_Still human_.

She gave up at trying to tame the monster and decided to just take a shower again. Shirt and cotton bottoms littered the floor and when Anna straightened her back, she looked at herself once more in the mirror.

Her eyes instantly swept over the scar in the middle of her chest. Delicate fingers grazed down the long blemish, starting from the top of her sternum, down to a teeny bit passed the end of the bone. It was now just white tissue but she imagined that it was an angry red mark to begin with. One last stare and she hopped into the shower.

After being clean and hair a wet mess on her head, Anna heard the wrist communicator Kristoff gave her beep on her desk. She fiddled with the contraption for a moment, struggling to remember how to use it, and cursed when the beeping stopped. She was about to dejectedly put it down when it started beeping again.

This time, she just resolved to just mashing all the buttons that were on the side and for some random miracle, she finally heard the captain's voice through the feed.

"_Hello? Anna? You there?"_

Anna brought the communicator to her mouth and shouted, "Kristoff! Good morning!"

Anna heard the blonde groan on his end and grumble, _"Anna, you know that you don't have to speak so loudly. Given that it's you, I'll hear you even if you whisper. My communicator said that you registered the signal but didn't pick up. Did you have trouble trying to answer?"_

"Uh.." Anna chuckled to herself, "Kind of, yeah. I'm still electronically inept you know."

"_You just slide the screen across. The other buttons are for inputting an address."_

Anna looked over the device in her hands, still confused.

"_Anyway, I'll meet you in the diner for breakfast. Tiana said that there's a special for crew members if they show up in their uniform. Do you remember where to exit the ship?"_

"Kristoff, I was tired last night, not drunk. I'll remember."

Anna heard a small laugh from Kristoff, "_Alright. We'll_ _be sitting where we sat last night. You'll see us once you walk in. See you."_ The feed ended with a beep and Anna went back to getting ready. Her hair was dry within ten minutes and she braided it into two plaits, then donned on her patrol uniform before setting out of her room.

_It was a…. left!_

The redhead confidentially walked in her definite direction, no trace of doubt in her mind. Her memory was slowly coming up from last night. She remembered stumbling here and sort of crashing into the wall there.

She scoffed, _Kristoff probably thinks I'm an idiot._

Her confident walk faltered, however, when she passed Elsa's room. It was obviously hers because a platinum crocus emblem was chiseled on the automatic door and a glowing, red lock was lit on her command panel.

Anna's heart began to ache again. She hesitated and considered if she should at least make sure the blonde was alright, in case she wasn't malnourished and faint on the floor.

_It wouldn't hurt right?_

She quietly walked to the front of the door and stood face to face with polished steel. When she finally had the strength to, she lifted up her hand, knuckles about to rap on the hard surface.

But Anna didn't knock.

_She's probably really busy._ A flash of Elsa's stoic and apathetic face went through her mind. Anna cringed.

_I wouldn't want to bother her more than I have already._

"_Don't give up on this."_

Anna's hand fell silently to her side. _I'm not.. I just.. she just needs time to herself. We could talk later._

For a minute, Anna was staring at the ground, hopelessly wishing that Elsa would want to come out for breakfast and she would see Anna there, happy to invite her in. But a minute passed and Kristoff was waiting for her.

She could have her mind be distracted just for one more day.

Anna finally willed herself to walk away from the Queen's quarters and out to the diner, where she would spend another day with Kristoff.

* * *

Anna thought dinner time in the restaurant was lively, but right now... breakfast was a madhouse. Plates clattered into bins and glasses clinked together on the tables in a discord of noise. Her ears didn't know what to process first: the hearty laughter and talking from the crew members, the hollering of the waiters to the chefs, or the disgruntled growl of her empty belly.

But she registered one sound.

"Anna!" She turned towards the sound of her name and saw Kristoff waving his arms wildly at a booth. She maneuvered her way in between busy waiters and rolling carts and to her surprise, made it in one piece to the table.

"Morning guys!" She scooched into an empty space on the cushioned bench, next to Kristoff and across from Hans.

"Where's Olaf?" Anna expected the young man to not miss breakfast after working all night. Kristoff waved down a passing waiter and turned in an order for Anna and a second helping for himself.

"You just missed him. He said he had to get back to work as soon as possible."

"Oh okay." She sat back in her seat, watching Hans hurriedly finish his food.

"What's gotten you in a hurry?" Anna wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the redheaded man looked trying to stuff toast and eggs into his mouth. Hans looked up from scarfing down his food and swallowed.

"I got an urgent comm from my general saying that I was needed ASAP back in Arendelle. Something about missing paperwork or something. So after I finish eating, I'm taking one of Kristoff's ships and heading out." He wiped his mouth and continued chewing.

"But I thought you need to be permitted to use a scout ship. That means you had to ask Elsa."

"The _Queen,_" Hans reiterated, "spared some time for me in her busy schedule to allow consent for departure. She understood my reason and is letting me go back to Arendelle to take care of important business."

"Oh.." Anna muttered quietly. She looked down and fiddled her thumbs. "I-isn't she going to eat breakfast?"

Amidst chewing, Hans replied indifferently, "Queen Elsa has been known to sacrifice nourishment in times of responsibilities if needs be. Being a Queen is hard work if you haven't noticed. Queen Elsa doesn't have time for herself where she can just relax, unlike you. You need to understand that."

Anna lowered visibly in her seat, "I do..", and didn't question anymore.

Kristoff shot Hans a look and the admiral merely shrugged his shoulder. Hans wiped his mouth and stood up.

"Well I need to leave now so I give good luck to your ship," he nodded to Kristoff then looked to Anna, "and a farewell to you." The busy admiral left the duo, haste obvious in his steps. Kristoff clicked his tongue and grumbled something incoherent under his breath.

When their waiter finally arrived with their food, Anna didn't dive in like Kristoff expected her to. He spoke through a mouthful of eggs.

"Hey, Hans was just in a hurry. What he said wasn't personal or anything, don't let what he said get to you."

Anna exhaled through her nose and poked at her hashbrowns, "I'm not. It's understandable though, Elsa being busy and all. I passed by her room this morning, I thought I could at least pop in and make sure she was okay but then I thought, 'Anna, she can take care of herself. Don't baby her.' So I just left it as it was."

Kristoff set his utensils aside and leaned back against the cushioned back of the booth.

"It's true that Elsa can look out for herself, but even she needs checking up on once in a while. It's only the first day that she's shut herself in so we all can assume that she's fine. When it gets to the third day, however, then we can start intruding ourselves upon her privacy."

"I guess," Anna replied quietly. She swooped her fork under the now cut up hashbrowns and finally took her first bite of breakfast. Kristoff saw the redhead's eyes bulge and he took in a breath, awaiting her next move.

Anna quickly chewed and Kristoff heard her gulp down the food, _loudly._ He witnessed her shovel in more of her breakfast into her mouth, looking even more savage than Hans earlier.

"Thish ish shoooo good!" A piece of egg flew out of Anna's mouth. "Oop, shorry."

Kristoff held his stomach, laughing, "Anna! Slow down you're gonna choke!"

Anna dismissed the captain's warning with a wave of her hand and continued eating, humming her contentment in finally filling her empty stomach with food. The pair ate their meal in glee, Anna occasionally flinging pieces of yolk at the blonde and Kristoff retaliating by reaching over and eating some of Anna's food, much to the redhead's disbelief.

After a minute or so of useless fighting between the two Anna spoke up.

"So!" She put aside her utensils and empty plate to the side and placed her hands on her lap, "What were you planning for today?"

Kristoff opened his mouth to talk when a loud crash echoed through the restaurant. Anna looked at Kristoff in concern and searched the room for the source of the disturbance. She saw a young waitress hunched on the ground in the middle of the room, frantically picking up broken pieces of ceramic while cleaning the spilled liquid with her apron. Anna heard a sniffle and she darted towards the woman.

"Are you okay? Do you need any help?"

The waitress shot her head up at Anna and she could see that tears were rolling down her youthful face. The woman looked down at the broken plates then up to Anna, words struggling to leave her mouth.

"I.. my first day, and. I just.." A sob choked out. Anna quickly hugged the woman to reassure her.

"Sshh, it's okay. It's just your first day. You're doing just fine." Anna looked the waitress straight in the eye and rubbed her arm.

"Here, let me help you with all of this. I'm sure Tiana will understand what happened, she's a sweet lady." Anna took a napkin from the floor and stacked pieces of plates onto it.

"Oh I'm Anna by the way." Anna smiled to woman, remembering that she didn't get her name. The sniffling waitress wiped her nose with her sleeve and struggled a smile back.

"I'm Lady. And you know Tiana?"

"Yeah, I mean like, I met her literally yesterday but we're good friends now! She's actually childhood friends with…. my… friend…" Anna became quiet by the end of her sentence and she stilled from picking up a piece from the floor. She looked at the portion of the plate in her hands and turned it over subconsciously with her fingers, mind somewhere else.

"Anna!" The redhead looked up towards the sound and saw Kristoff jogging over to her. He then registered the other kneeling woman on the floor and crouched beside her.

"Are you okay?" Kristoff asked tenderly. Lady's eyes widened at the sight of the blonde captain and Anna noticed that she was wringing her hand on her apron. She hunched up her shoulders and averted her gaze for a moment before replying.

"I-I'm fine," Lady barely made out. Kristoff let out a breath of relief.

"Whew, that's good. It sounded like a nasty fall from where we were sitting. Let me help you with this alright?" Kristoff started picking up shattered parts and putting them in his hat.

Lady still didn't face the captain but nodded her frantically, not saying a word. Anna was confused about her behavior but with a squint of her eyes, it hit her.

_Is she… blushing?_

Lady hadn't moved from her spot ever since Kristoff started crawling on the floor around her, unbeknown what he had triggered in the young woman. Anna saw her uneasiness and wanted to give her a break.

"Hey Kristoff, leave the plates to us. Can you carry the trays and the cart to the kitchen?"

"Sure." He got up and dumped what he had picked up so far onto Anna's napkin, then gathered the fallen trays and rolled the cart towards the two swinging doors. Once he was out of earshot, Anna scooted towards Lady and nudged her gently on the arm.

"You like him?" Lady apparently had watched him walk away and Anna's sudden appearance and declaration surprised the poor girl.

"I- um.. w-what? Is he your friend?"

"Yeah and _just_ a friend. He's really sweet, you should go talk to him."

Lady brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them, "I.. I don't know. I have work right now and I don't want to look like I'm slacking around."

"Oh alright, understandable. But we'll most likely still be here so once your shift ends, feel free to come up to us and talk." Anna straightened her legs and helped Lady up. The young girl gave Anna this time a genuine smile.

"Thank you."

They walked towards the kitchen and Anna followed Lady to a trashcan to dump the pieces.

"Lady!" Anna turned towards the exclamation and saw Tiana dodging around cooks and sous chefs to reach them. Lady turned around as well and a cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

"M-Miss Tiana, I can explain-"

"Are you hurt? Did you cut yourself?" Tiana took Lady's hands into hers and looked them over, eyes scoring over every finger and searching for any evidence of incision.

Lady was obviously shocked, "Uh, n-no.. I'm fine."

"Oh thank God," Tiana said before hugging the perplexed waitress. "I know it's your first day and things can be a little challenging but I just want to tell you that it's alright and I'm not mad." Tiana pulled away and smiled tenderly.

"And I'm sorry that I had to ring you on such a busy morning. Most of my morning staff called in for either the afternoon or evening shift so I needed the extra help. Thank you again for coming in."

Lady was obviously still speechless so Anna spoke up for her, "We could help! I mean Kristoff and I. We're not busy at the moment so we can lend a few hands!"

Tiana looked towards the new voice, "Anna! Oh I didn't see you there sugar." She then hugged Anna after letting go of Lady. "You are just an angel sent from heaven. I would love that, thank you. Oh, and Lady?"

The dazed waitress shook out of her stupor and faced her boss. "Y-yes Miss Tiana?"

"Can you make sure that Kristoff –he's a blonde young man in a uniform, you won't miss him- has taken the trays to the washing room? I'm afraid I didn't give him clear instructions as to where to go so the poor fellow must be lost."

A blush crept on Lady's tan cheeks, "Y-yes Miss Tiana. Right away." Lady waved bye to Anna before spinning on her heels and swiftly walking away. Anna couldn't help but giggle.

"And how are you?" Tiana whispered once they were alone. "Are you feeling better?"

"Oh, yeah actually," Anna switched her gaze to the floor beside her and rubbed her neck. "Sorry for just running out like that. I should have excused myself more properly." She was overwhelmed with warmth again when Tiana hugged her once more.

"Oh sugar, you don't have to apologize for anything. Both of us know that _you're _not the one in the wrong."

"But.." Anna gently pushed herself out of the hug, "It was expected of her. It's not her fault. She had responsibilities."

Tiana let go of Anna but when there was no sign of the redhead looking back, she brought a hand up to her cheek and made Anna look at her.

"Anna, I'm going to tell you something that will help you understand where I'm coming from okay?" Tiana said sternly but kind enough that Anna merely nodded silently.

"Before all of this," Tiana swopped her arms around her, indicating the restaurant, "I was just a girl with a hopeless dream. Not enough money and not enough resources. After my father died and we were left to find small town jobs to keep the oven warm, my dream of having a luxurious diner had to wait. Mama's health was my main priority and I had to keep that in check. There were hard times when it felt like everything was pointless and that I shouldn't even bother trying anymore. But by God did I have a hell of a lot of determination."

Anna laughed, making Tiana smile and she continued. "It was a good thing too because when I was working as a caterer at my friend's ball, under certain circumstances, I met Naveen. He was passing by in the district and my friend invited him, thinking a prince would liven things up. We didn't click at first; we actually annoyed each other to no end but we were both put under siege of some witch doctor and forced to cooperate together to escape our situation. At the time, we were only looking towards our own personal goals: mine was to go back to my mama and to go back to my life of working so I can give her the diner she deserves and will be proud of. Naveen…. He just wanted to go back to a life full of fun and fooling around."

Tiana took a deep breath and retied her bun. When she finished she looked to Anna again.

"I was so determined to get back to my old life and responsibilities that I almost dismissed the feelings I was having towards Naveen. 'Dig a little deeper,' is what I was told." Tiana smiled to herself, as if remembering a tender moment in her past.

" 'Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed,' " Tiana sang. When she came down from her cinematic moment, she saw Anna lift a brow in question.

"Sorry," Tiana waved off her confusion, "It was a song someone taught me. Anyway, if I had kept my eye on the things that my head wanted to do, then my heart wouldn't have had the experience of what love was. I mean, it was possible that if I had just gone back home after escaping the witch doctor, I would have gotten my dream restaurant later on the future. But.."

Tiana placed her hands on Anna's shoulders.

"Sharing your dream with the person you love is one of the best things the world can offer you. I would have been happy that I had my own diner like my daddy wanted, but I would be nowhere near as happy as I am now sharing it with Naveen. And who had thought that it was going to be in space?"

Anna felt Tiana brush her hand over her forehead to sweep her bangs out of her eyes.

"Anyway, what my point is Anna, is that Elsa shouldn't override her life with responsibilities. It's good that she's thinking about her people, but she also needs to think about herself too, and to tend to what she needs. What she _wants. _What she's doing right now is not only hurting you, but her as well. Just as much. And if she doesn't change her viewpoint, then she is going to regret missing out on a perfect experience for herself."

Anna blushed at the last sentence. She knew what Tiana meant. A tiny shake on her shoulders brought her gaze back to the dark skinned woman.

"Don't worry, I'll go talk to her."

"But.." Anna finally spoke, "she locked herself in her room."

"Anna, if there's one thing you should know first about me, it's that I am a _very_ persuasive person. Now, enough about life lessons from little old me, let's see what kind of work we can hand you."

* * *

"Whew, for a restaurant in space, they do get a lot of customers." Anna slumped back in her chair and let her arms fall to the floor. She had never worked in her life and she expected it to be a breeze, but with every new customer and every new table, her perspective had changed drastically. She had caught up, fortunately, but the labor took a toll on the young woman. Anna could hear her heart drum erratically.

Kristoff spun his chair to regard the lounging redhead, no sign of fatigue whatsoever.

"You were a sight also, running around, dodging people, taking orders. And you said you were bed ridden most of your life."

"Believe it or not, I was still an energetic child. Before my incident, I'd _mildly _climb trees and run after butterflies and stuff. I still had a childhood you know."

"_Mildly?_"

"Yes, mildly. One branch at a time. So…" Anna swiveled in her seat and looked around the room.

"Where are we?"

Kristoff brought his feet down from a panel and pressed some buttons on the dashboard. Light poured in from the dark window in front of them and Anna realized that they were looking into the Halcyon Room.

"Whoa, what? Isn't that…?"

"Halcyon Room? Yes. This is the control room where you get to choose your own scenery or place. I already had it placed to the acquired setting that Elsa wanted so you guys didn't need to come up here."

Anna looked out once more and noted that the dome structure that she had seen as a flower field was now plain white. She remembered how it had looked like with all the flowers and grass and how their table was set right in the middle of it.

_Wait._

_Dinner. Elsa. _

A blush suddenly bloomed itself on Anna's freckled face and her breath hitched.

"W-wait. D-did you… were you up here.. when we were um.. eating dinner?"

"What?" Kristoff looked at Anna quizzically, "No, I had to captain my ship silly." He laughed.

"Anna don't worry, nobody was up here. We all respect Elsa's privacy on her personal affairs."

Anna quietly let out a breath of relief and turned away.

"Okay.."

She heard Kristoff crack his knuckles, "Now…" The captain entered inputs so fast, Anna only heard them as rapid taps. With a final _click_, he swiveled to face Anna and beamed at her.

"How about I show you the world?"

* * *

Elsa woke up with a start.

She tiredly looked around the room to find the source of her abrupt awakening but found nothing peculiar. Just her usual empty room.

A nap for thirty minutes felt like four hours, but she needed it with all the time wasted away working at her draft. She didn't even bother returning to her paperwork and simply had shifted it to the side of her desk, mind made up that she would get back to it later. The blonde continued to stare blankly at the wall in front of her before feeling her stomach grumble.

She didn't have Gerda and her automated food service at the time so means of nourishment meant that she had to venture outside her refuge and get some herself.

Elsa looked at the digital clock.

_12:45.. I guess I could go in quickly, get lunch, then come back._

The Queen not so gracefully stood up from her chair and hobbled over to her bathroom, where she would first take a shower, then change out of her clothes and into new ones.

_Because gods know that I didn't have time to change last night._

Elsa felt a pang of guilt stab through her chest as she stepped into the shower, causing her to swiftly grab at the wall for support as she almost fell over.

_What is wrong with me?_

With a firm shake of her head and a clench of her fist, she stood back up and continued her routine.

Elsa made sure to avoid any contact with any person in hopes that she could just get a quick lunch and go back to her room, no unnecessary small talk with anyone. As she stepped out of the ship, she adjusted her uniform, this time leaving her royal Arendelle Coat and going for the more… casual look, which was donning on the generic Service Unit uniform.

She quickly spotted a booth that was away from the entrance but in front of the kitchen and hastily made her approach to the vacant table. As soon as she was seated- which she was grateful for, because she wouldn't want to compete with someone for this spot in the busy restaurant- a waitress immediately accommodated her requests and was left alone once again, tending to her thoughts.

Elsa found that her position was an interesting one. From here she could see all the action that was going on in the kitchen and all the customers bustling in, ordering for a table. The blonde noted that a few dignitaries walked in once in a while, probably recommended by Naveen's parents, but the majority of the regulars were just ordinary people, looking for a bit of fun in the vast spans of space.

Her waitress had brought her food with the usual cheerfulness that Elsa expected from Tiana's trained staff and thanked her, being sure to give her a tip before she went on to her standard work.

"Oh wow.. t-thank you Miss!" She held the bill in her hand, as if confused as what to do with it.

Elsa smiled softly at the young woman, "Oh, it's no problem." She inwardly giggled to herself, glad that the woman had no idea who she was. "You have a good day…" Elsa flashed a look at the waitress' name tag.

"Lady."

_Hmm, what a peculiar name._

"Thank you! And you too!" And with a jump in her step, Elsa's waitress went off to take more orders. The blonde felt herself smile and began eating her food in silence.

Every so often, she would look up and observe the people who came and went, all the while she was chewing her food. The dignitaries had left, Elsa realized, and the restaurant was slowly dying back down to just a handful of conversations here and there.

With a content sigh, Elsa pushed her empty plate aside and leaned back in her seat, deciding that she could people watch for a few minutes before getting back to work. It was a peaceful three minutes just relaxing in the booth, not thinking about responsibilities.

When the time hit four minutes, however, her peace had shattered.

In through the entrance walked in her captain and-

_Shit! Anna!_

* * *

**I'm back folks! How's everybody? How's the fandom while I was gone? Is everybody still alive? Anyway, I hope people wouldn't mind my mild shipping of Lady and Kristoff (I don't know, picture Lady personified?) Because you know… he's a tramp?**

***nervous laughing**

**This chapter is the first of a two parter so expect a lot of things happening in the next chappy.**

**Till then!**


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